Monday, August 2, 2021 Edition

Monday, August 2, 2021/ Dhuʻl-Hijjah 23, 1442 AH Vol. 37 No. 125 N200

2642 Days after Malam Wada Maida (1950-2020), founding Chairman, Board of the Peoples Media Limited

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The nation awaits rescue of the remaining abducted Chibok schoolgirls

Hushpuppi: Abba Kyari suspended as IGP panel begins probe >>PAGE 3

Police rescue 2 abducted Kebbi students in Zamfara 78 more still in captivity >>PAGE 5

L-R: Chairman, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Prof AK. Usman, Deputy Executive Secretary (Services) UBEC, Dr. Isha Kolawole, Executive Secretary, National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC), Dr Benjamin Ogbole Abakpa, The Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Dr Hamid Bobboyi and the Deputy Executive Secretary (Technical) UBEC, Dr Bala Zakari , during a familiarization visit by the NSSEC Executive Secretary to UBEC office, recently in Abuja..

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Nigeria submits 2021 climate change report to UN

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Abuja's waste Mgt Roads: 5 States to Insecurity dropping NNPC records gulps N8bn annually benefit from N143bn drastically in Kastina petroleum product sale - Minister FG refund - Gov. Masari of N234.63bn in March pAGE 5

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PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

News CONTENTS News

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Op.Ed

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Politics Stock Watch Business

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Metro

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World New

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Africa News

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World News

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Delta govt okays proposed N425bn “indicative budget” for 2022

By Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

T

he reconstituted Delta State Executive Council has approved an “indicative budget” of N425 billion for 2022 fiscal year.

Our correspondent reports that the Council okayed the budget proposal at its maiden meeting presided by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, in Asaba at the weekend.

Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the meeting, the Commissioner for Economic Planning, Dr. Barry Gbe, explained that the council approved the proposal after due consideration of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF and FSP), in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Law 2020.

Gbe revealed that his ministry had proposed a budget of N388 billion for the period but that the figure was jerked up by the council to accommodate other matters not envisaged earlier.

He however noted that, after deliberations, debates and a deeper look into what 2022 should look like, in its wisdom, the State Executive Council increased the N388 billion that was recommended to N425 billion.

According to him, “ N425 budget was indicative “it is not full and final;

soo, we will be going to the House of Assembly with an indicative figure of N425 billion as a total budget size for 2022.

“The micro economic indicators that informed the indicative 2022 budget was a deliberate adoption of the Federal Government MTEF and FSP where they planned crude oil to be sold at 57 dollars per barrel in 2022, with daily production of oil at 1.88 million barrels and exchange rate of N410 to the dollar.

“These are the indicative figures that made up the micro economic framework of the Federal Government and that is what we also used in our projections.”

He continues: “However, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) which for 2021 half year was put at N35 billion is to be scaled up through what we are trying to put in the informal sector so that we can become a little ambitious and then increase it from the N65 billion plus of 2021 to doing N75 billion in 2022.

“We also try to scale down what we called net financing which is to say that we don’t need to borrow much to increase the revenue side of our 2022 budget. However, in our intention to finish strong, we felt that there would be need to also maintain some figures around net financing.

“So, the revenue side of the budget

for 2022 will be adequately funded through the statutory allocation, the IGR of the state, grants that we expect from donor agencies and multilateral agencies like the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF and some others that might likely come up,”.

Furthermore, the commissioner stated that the executive council also projected that the capital expenditure side shoud be higher than the recurrent expenditure side of the budget.

According to him, the state government will be doing a 56/44 ratio distribution between capital and recurrent expenditures to enable it finish ongoing capital projects in 2022.

In his contribution, the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, disclosed that the council approved the construction of Amoro Street which is about 756 meters in Enerhen in Uvwie Local Government Area.

He said that Osamor Street in Ika North-East and Ozu/Onyia/ Ogbe streets in Ekuku-Agbor in Ika South and the Okpolo/Owien Road in Isoko South were also approved for construction.

Aniagwu stated that a highpowered committee headed by the Deputy Governor had been set up to look into issues of sanitation in

the state, adding that the committee was expected to come up with recommendations on certain steps to be taken to ensure the maintenance of a more healthy environment.

“A memo was also brought forward by the Warri/Uvwie and Environs Development Agency on the account of the amount of storm water drainage that is being constructed by the agency for the purpose of increasing the spate of work and also including certain aspects of phase lll and phase lV. “You will recall that we have started the construction of the project in phase l and phase ll but in the course of the progress on that work, it was discovered that there is need to address certain areas in phases lll and lV because the return of the rains has shown that if those areas were not done, it will affect what is being done in phase l and phase ll. So, that addendum was brought forward for approval by the council.

“The EXCO approved the UTM Offshore Limited for Delta and that is for us to invest in floating liquified natural gas project and EXCO approved that because it is believed that this investment will not only protect our future, but it is an investment that will, to a very large extent, give us opportunities to create more jobs for our people.

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PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

News

By Tobias Lengnam

T

he Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba has recommended the immediate suspension of DCP Abba Kyari, the embattled Head of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT), from the Service of the Nigeria Police Force.

The suspension is pending the outcome of an ongoing internal investigations on him, a statement by CP Frank Mba, Force Public Relation Officer, Force Headquarters in Abuja said yesterday.

The IGP, in his letter to the Police Service Commission, dated 31st July, 2021, noted that the recommendation for the suspension

Ag News Editor, Tobias Lengnam

Hushpuppi: Abba Kyari suspended as IGP panel begins probe of the officer, is in line with the internal disciplinary processes of the Force.

The IGP further noted that the suspension is also expected to create an enabling environment for the NPF Special Investigation Panel to carry out its investigations into the weighty allegations against DCP Abba Kyari without interference.

The suspension is without

prejudice to the constitutional presumption of innocence in favour of the officer.

The Special Investigation Panel (SIP), comprising four (4) Senior Police Officers, is headed

by DIG Joseph Egbunike, the Deputy Inspector General of Police in-charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID).

The SIP is also to undertake a

detailed review of all the allegations against DCP Abba Kyari by the US Government as contained in relevant documents that have been availed the NPF by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The SIP is also to obtain detailed representation of DCP Abba Kyari to all the allegations levelled against him, conduct further investigations as it deems fit, and submit

Cholera: Abuja records 69 fatalities as FCTA races to curtail spread

By Stanley Onyekwere

A

total of 69 fatalities have been recorded from over 1000 confirmed cases of the prevailing Cholera disease in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), according to Acting Secretary, FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat (HHSS), Dr. Mohammad Kawu.

Kawu also revealed that the number of cholera cases in the Federal Capital Territory, has dropped, following

concerted efforts by the FCT Administration, as stakeholders race to combat the spread of the disease.

He made the disclosure while briefing newsmen, after a meeting of the FCT Emergency Operations Center (EOC)of the Secretariat with the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammed Musa Bello, on Friday.

The HHSS’s Acting Secretary, who added that other victims of the disease have been treated and discharged from health facilities, described cholera as a

disease closely associated with poor hygiene and appealed to residents to make extra efforts to ensure proper cleaning of their environment and cultivate good sanitary habits.

According to him, Bwari Area Council has been identified as the epicenter of the outbreak in the FCT followed by the Abuja Municipal Area Council and reiterated that measures have been put in place to prevent recurrence.

Explaining that residents display-

ing symptoms of the disease were being treated for free in FCTA health facilities, Kawu said adequate drugs and other medical consumables have been made available in those facilities.

Kawu however attributed the drop to the collaborative efforts of relevant offices in the HHSS as well as the FCT Water Board and the Abuja Environmental Protection Board.

“We have repositioned treatment, drugs, other consumables in all

EFCC purported arrest: My hands are clean - Saraki says Page 16

Education

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Feature

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Sports Back Page

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R-L: Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya; Yobe State Governor & National Chairman, APC Caretaker/ Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Mai Mala Buni and Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport on Saturday in Abuja.

L-R: Former deputy senate president, Sen. Ibrahim Mantu; Former Governor of Kano State, Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and former senate president, sen. Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki at the wedding reception of the daughter of the former Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Shaaba Lafiagi on Saturday in Abuja

Paris Agreement : Nigeria submits 2021 final climate change report to UN

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

N

igeria has submitted its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) final report of 2021 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The updated report, which was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari, replaces the interim NDC report that was

submitted in May 2021.

According to a statement signed and issued by Director Press of Ministry, Saghir el Mohammed, said submitting the report on behalf of the federal government, Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, Dr Muhammed Abubakar emphasized Nigeria’s unwavering commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, as it has now raised its targets in the new report.

His words: “This submitted updated NDC communicated that Nigeria has raised its ambition by including emission reduction from the waste sector as a new sector in the NDC. “Nigeria’s has increased its conditional contribution from 45% to 47% while retaining the unconditional target of 20%.

“Hence the updated NDC has an unconditional target of 20%

below business as usual by 2030 and 47% conditional contribution on international support.”

Furthermore, the Minister noted that Friday was an important day for Nigeria as the timely submission of the updated report will ensure its inclusion in a synthesis report that will be issued later this year, ahead of COP26 slated to hold in Glasgow, United Kingdom.

recommendations to guide further actions by the Force Leadership on the matter.

The statement also quoted the IGP as expressing commitment of the Force to the Rule of Law and assured the public of the sanctity of the probe as well as the absolute respect for the rights and privileges of the officer throughout the period of the investigations.

the health facilities in affected areas and all secondary healthcare facilities in the FCT so that anybody that has diarrhea is treated free.

“We have also provided water and sanitation in the affected areas by working with the FCT Water Board, FCT Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA) and the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB)”, he explained.

He continues: “It is gratifying to note that all the affected communities have been visited and we have told them what they need to do to prevent this cholera outbreak.

“It appears, and it is clear that they have understood what we told them and they have taken those decisions and they are doing those things and that’s why the cases have come down”.

Similarly, while speaking on the spike of COVID -19 cases across the country, the HHSS boss said the FCT was prepared for a possible third wave saying that the FCT had not dismantled any of the structure put in place to fight the virus.

In his words: “Our treatment centres are intact and we have piped oxygen. We have also repaired our oxygen plant in Asokoro. Our health workers have been trained and they are on ground. So we are prepared.

“Most importantly, we continue to advocate and advise the populace to continue with the non-pharmaceutical preventive measures that are in place. “ These measures include; wearing of face mask, social and physical distancing, washing of hands regularly with water and soap and or hand sanitizers and avoiding crowded areas”.

Group calls on FG to wade into Benue communal crisis

A

s part of strategies to draw national and international attention to the ongoing killings of Igede speaking people in Ukpute and Ochoro communities in Oju and Konshisha local governments of Benue State respectively, the Association of Lawyers from Conflict Zones in collaboration with the Association of Igede Media Professionals embarked on a massive peaceful protest in Abuja at the Weekend.

The protesters called on the federal government to order urgent deployment of troops to the disputed boundary between Ukpute and Bonta communities in Benue State as a measure to contain the persistent conflict and hostilities in the area.

President of the Association of Lawyers

in Conflict Zones, Barrister John Owulo, who led protesters of Igede ethnic nationality from Ukpute and Ochoro of Benue State at the weekend in Abuja to express their grievances over the poor handing of the conflict by the state government, lamented that the crisis has displaced thousands of Igede people and led to loss of lives and property.

Owulo also called on the federal government to direct the establishment of a military post at the boundary between the warring communities and to prevail on the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, to urgently demarcate the disputed boundary to forestall future re-occurrence.

The group further demanded that the

Federal Government should mandate the governor to deploy internal security along Awajir-Oju Road to ensure its reopening to commuters and supply basic human needs to those displaced by the crisis as well as prevail on him to discontinue persecution of the Peoples Daily editor, Egena Sunday Ode, who he had charged to court in connection with publications about the conflict.

“Since the unprovoked crisis broke out in June, 2020, the governor is yet to make any arrangement to deploy security agents to stop the needless killings.

Ukpute people and by extension, the lgedes are peace-loving people and do not deserve to be treated like slaves in their fa-

therland. It is high time Mr President and all security agencies in Nigeria, the international humanitarian organisations rose to the rescue of our people,” he said.

Recall that Governor Ortom had on Tuesday called on the earring communities to cease hostilities in order to pave way for the boundary demarcation to take place.

Reading the communique issued at the end of a Special meeting of Benue State Security Council with stakeholders held at Government House, Makurdi and presided over by Governor Ortom, the governor said his Deputy in conjunction with chairmen of the two(2) local governments will fix a date for sensitization of the two communities before the actual demarcation.

PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

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NEWS

5 States to benefit from N143bn FG Roads refund

From Ahmed Kebbi

Idris,

N

Birnin

o fewer than 5 States will benefits from refunded of N143 billions of the Federal Government roads constructed by some States Governments in their various domains, the Minister of State for Works Eng. Abubakar Aliyu, has said.

Aliyu, who was in Kebbi State to assess the situation of the roads, disclosed this weekend, when paid a courtesy visit to Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State, at Government House, Birnin Kebbi.

He explained that the aims of the visit was to ascertain the level of work executed by the state government on the construction of some federal roads in the state.

He noted that before now, some states may find it extremely necessary, because of the urgency, to approach the federal government to seek permission to construct federal roads that are within their states.

“Out of the total distance of roads we have across the country, 34,000 kms plus are under the jurisdiction of the federal government out of which we are currently working on over 13,000 kms simultaneously with over 800 contracts currently ongoing.

“The federal government will give them the permission and they will be reimbursed later”.

“Before 2016 or around that period, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) set up a committee to verify and clear road construction executed by some state governments.

“The committee headed by the Minister of Works and Housing, Hon. Babatunde Raji Fashola was able to clear and verify 25 states who built federal government roads in their states. ”President Muhammadu

Buhari had given approval for the payment of N477 billion, which was shared among the 25 states respectively, this is the third set of which Kebbi is among, alongside Yobe and Taraba States”, the State Minister said.

He adds: “As I am talking to you, by tomorrow, the Hon. Minister of Works and Housing will be in Yobe to ascertain and verify their road construction, while the Hon. Minister of Education will be in Taraba to do a similar job.

“That’s why I am here together with my team today, the secretariat is domiciled in the

SGF’s office and that’s why you see me with the Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office, to come and verify the two roads as you requested”.

In his remarks, the Kebbi State Governor, Senator Bagudu Abubakar Atiku, who appreciated the minister for the visit, applauded the present administration for completing one of the legacy roads it inherited; Sokoto-Tambuwal-Kontagora road.

He explains: “This road is one of the most important roads, not only does it link other states with the Federal Capital Territory, but it is the main gateway to Lagos.

“I remember in 2015 when we came in before the completion of the road, whenever we were having security council meeting, it was a nightmare for the Emir of Yauri to come, but today, he even looks forward to coming for the meetings.

“This is one of the numerous uncompleted roads that were inherited by the President Buhari administration which are either completed or on the way to completion. This is highly commendable.

“Though, the President wouldn’t have achieved that without a formidable team, for

that we also commend the efforts of the ministry.”

Bagudu observed that apart from the completion of inherited projects, the present administration had been able to initiate and execute new gigantic projects across the country.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Works in the state, Alhaji Abubakar Chika-Ladan told the governor that he led the visitors on inspection of Dabai-MahutaKoko road which was constructed in 2006 at the cost of N4.8 billion as well as Malando-Garin BakaNgaski 45 km road which gulped N2.2 billion in 2007.

FCTA,NADDC partners to develop environmentally friendly public transportation

By Stanley Onyekwere

T

he National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) will partner to realise the quest of making Abuja a green city, through the development of an environmentally friendly public transportation system.

This was disclosed by the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello during a visit by the management of the NADDC led by its Director General, Jelani Aliyu to the FCTA. Also, on the NADDC delegation were top officials of the Stallion Group of Companies.

Bello, revealed that the long term plan of the Administration was to develop Abuja into one of the greenest cities in the country The Minister, after taking a test drive in the Hyundai Kona, an electric vehicle

assembled in Nigeria, noted that the use of electric vehicles as a major means of public transportation was a major part of that plan.

According to him, “the proposal brought to us by the DG fits into our longterm plan for the city. As you know, we pride ourselves in having Abuja as one of the greenest cities in the country, from the generation of vegetation and planting of trees to the concerted efforts to make sure that modern waste disposal system are entrenched.

“So, this just takes us to the next step which is trying to improve on the transportation system in the city, particularly our bus mass transit system and what is called the last mile”.

The Minister further explains: “That is why if you noticed in many parts of the city now, we don’t allow tricycles and motorcycles to operate and gradually, we

are working towards eliminating the use of diesel buses. “ But ultimately, my vision and the vision of my team is that really, Abuja should go electric in terms of powering the bus systems and even the motor vehicles as we have seen today”.

Speaking on the availability of the technology to enable wide use of the electric vehicles, the Minister said “this is something that requires a lot of planning and as you can see, technology for solar, solar batteries and retention of power, gradually is improving. So if we start now and imbibe it as a culture, I think it’s a matter of time and we will get there”.

He therefore pledged the support of the FCT Administration to the NADDC in terms of the organization’s requirements for its projects either directly or through a Public Private Partnership (PPP).

Bello also commended the NADDC

DG and his team across the country and encouraged them to see Abuja as a good location for all their activities.

Speaking earlier, Mr. Jelani Aliyu, the Director General of the NADDC said his team was in the FCTA to begin discussion with the Administration in good collaboration to make their contribution in making Abuja one of the most advanced and green cities in the world.

He said that the Hyundai Kona is the first ever electric vehicle assembled in Nigeria with a range of about 492 kilometers which could be charged from any electric outlet and it was in respect of the vehicle that the NDDC has developed solar charging stations in Sokoto, Lagos and Nsukka.

The visit also featured presentations from the Stallion Group of Companies on its proposed public transportation solutions.

News

Police rescue 2 abducted Kebbi students in Zamfara From Ibrahim Sidi Muh’d, Gusau

T

he Zamfara State Police Command has succeeded in rescuing two of the recently abducted students of the Federal Government College (FGC) Birnin Yauri of Kebbi State who were identified as Maryam Abdulkareem a 15 year old (girl) student and Faroukh Buhari aged 17, a male student respectively.

Briefing Journalists on the development at the Zamfara State Police Command on Sunday, Commissioner of

•78 more still in captivity

Police, CP Hussaini Rabi’u, said men of his command were able to rescue two out of the 80 abducted students of the FGC Birnin Yauri at Babbar Doka village under DanSadau district.

“On receiving information that two underaged were sighted deeply in the forest, our gallant men under Operation Puff Adder had to swung into action and were successful in the safe rescue of the

two abducted students.

“For security reasons, since there are still some more number of the abducted students under the custody of their abductors, I cannot disclose the kind of approach used by the gallant men of this Command which aided their success in the operation.

“We have taken the rescued victims to hospital where medical examinations

were conducted and later, they were debriefed by the Police, the next line of actions is to convey and hand over them to the Kebbi State Police Command for proper reunion with their families”, CP Rabi’u said.

Expressing their gratitude to Almighty Allah and the Zamfara State Government and the Police Command, Faroukh Buhari and Maryam Abdulkareem said, “We must commend efforts by the Police for the show of professionalism during our rescue operation”.

L-R; Past President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI); Mr Goodie Ibru; President, LCCI; Mrs Toki Mabogunje; Immediate Past Director-General, LCCI, Dr Muda Yusuf, his wife, Mrs Memunat Yusuf and Deputy President, LCCI, Mr Knut Ulvmoen, during a Farewell Party organised by the Chamber in honour of Dr Muda Yusuf in Lagos.

By Stanley Onyekwere

L- R; Emir of Akko, Alhaji Umar Atiku, Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, Emir of Pindiga, Alhaji Sayoji Ahmed and Emir of Gona, Alhaji Abdulkadir Umar when Akko Local Government Community visited the Governor recently in Gombe.

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PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

T

he FCT Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, has revealed that the administration spends about N8 billion annually to manage waste in the Federal Capital City (FCC) and the satellite towns across the Territory.

Specifically, she said the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) spends an average of N6 billion annually, while the Satellite Towns Development Department (STDD) spends N2 billion annually bringing the total sum of N8 billion to pay over 64 cleaning contractors engaged in the management of waste within the nation’s capital.

A statement from Special Assistant on Media To the FCT Minister of State, Austine Elemue, said disclosed that the Minister spoke at the maiden edition of the Annual General Meeting/Induction of Waste Management Association of Nigeria (WAMASON), FCT Council.

She also called on communities to adopt sustainable waste management practices,

Abuja’s waste management gulps N8bn annually - says Minister which include sorting at source, composting of organic waste for horti-cultural/agricultural purposes amongst others.

Speaking on the theme: “Waste Management in a Circular Economy: Financing, Stakeholders Engagement and Enforcement”, the minister advocated for the transition to circular economy model for sustainable growth and development in Nigeria.

Aliyu, who was represented by the Director, Environmental Services, Satellite Towns Development Department ( STDD) Mr. Olusegun Olusa, noted that in circular economy, virtually nothing is discarded, stressing that products and materials are kept in circulation for as long as possible by

designing them to be more durable, reusable, repairable and recyclable.

“It is clear that waste management is a cross-cutting environmental issue, impacting many aspects of our society and the economy. It has strong linkages to a range of other global challenges such as health, food and resource security, sustainable consumption and production, climate change and poverty reduction,” she affirmed.

According to her, the FCT Administration has been working assiduously in ensuring that new opportunities for sustainable growth are provided through increased budgetary provisions in waste management related services.

In her words: “Presently, we

have a total number of 64 waste management contractors in the FCC and Satellite Towns.

“This has provided employment opportunities and improved environmental sanitation through resource recovery/sorting and collection of recyclables for the informal waste pickers, as well as providing platform for generation of empirical data for proper planning and projection of waste amount in the FCT”.

The minister, therefore, called for synergy and understanding between the government and the private sector in ensuring effective and profitable waste management, just as she pledged the administration’s commitment in providing the necessary legal framework that

guarantees return on investment for service delivery.

In her presentation of 2016 to 2021 FCT Council report, the Councillor, Waste Management Association of Nigeria, Mrs. Kitan Oluwagbuyi, noted that despite the numerous challenges facing waste managers in the city, the association has collaborated with tertiary institutions across the country to organise workshop and mentorship on opportunities in waste management and sustainable development.

She also stated that in 2020 the association has set up recycling centres in 20 schools across the Federal Capital Territory, and 5 collection hub centres in collaboration with a member recycler-chanjadatti under a UNDP assisted fund.

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PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

News

Insecurity dropping drastically in Kastina -Gov. Masari From Lawal Sa’idu Funtua, Katsina

T

he Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina state has disclosed that the incidences of insecurity have drastically reduced in the state, as indicated by the reports on happenings across the state.

A development, the governor described as a part of the

blessings from God, which requires special prayer to see the state out of its present security woes, calling on people to cooperate in overcoming the challenges Masari made the disclosure yesterday In Katsina while speaking at 2021 special prayer session ( Yaumush Shukur) thanksgiving day for Allah’s blessings and bounties to Katsina

state.

He said: “ the news we are getting from across the state has indicated that the incidences of insecurity have reduced in the state”.

The Governor also noted that Katsina state was blessed and favoured by God among all states of the federation, stressing that the state was blessed by men and women that excelled in various

human endeavors in the country.

In his remarks, the emir of Daura Umar Faruq Umar has appreciated the efforts of Governor Masari in improving security across the state.

He stated that the people of Daura and Katsina Emirates are United in moving the state forward and ensuring the unity of it’s people.

Also speaking, the chairman

of the prayer session, Alhaji Abidu Yazid Rafindadi has emphasized the importance of giving thanks to God for his many blessings to the people of Katsina.

Similarly , all the Islamic scholars that spoke at the session stressed the importance of offering a thank you prayer to God for his many mercies to the state.

HYPAPDEC records 70% in Kanji lake tree removal

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PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

News

Tension as unknown gunmen kill Motorcyclist in Delta

By Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

S

ome unidentified gunmen at the weekend allegedly murdered motorcyclist identified as Edoja Imoni Ediri, and carted away with his motorcycle, in Oviri Ogor Community in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State It was gathered that the body of Ediri, aged thirty-year-old was dumped in an uncompleted building, after he was murdered in the area.

Our correspondent reports that the rampaging unknown gunmen in the

recent times have allegedly turned the area into war zone for unsuspecting residents.

It was gathered that the death of the latest victim, a native of Igbuku Orogun in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State had been creating palpable tension among the people especially visitors to the area.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the State, DSP Edafe Bright who confirmed the incident, say the police were mobilized with a view to ensuring those behind the nefarious activities are brought to a halt.

The spokesman addds that” The police are investigating the incident and the corpse of the deceased have been evacuated from the scene as no arrest has been made” In a related development, a young man identified as Pius Idise in Kotokoto layout Orhuwhorun in Udu local government area of Delta State at the weekend allegedly committed suicide by drinking substance Suspectd to be inserticide three weeks that he moved into a new apartment in the area It was gathered that Pius Idise holds a master’s degree Certificate without

a good job as he was found dead in his apartment with the door widely opened and an empty container of the inserticide found by his side . It was further gathered that his death shocked his neighbours because he was full of life before his evil burst the evening of his wicked decision However, Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, who confirmed the incident said that Investigation was ongoing with a view to conducting an autopsy on the deceased that will asertain the true position of his death.

From Yakubu Mustapha, Minna

T

he Hydro Power Producing Areas D e v e l o p m e n t Commission (HYPPADEC) has said that the on going cutting of tree logs on Kanji lake project is at over 70% completion.

The Monitoring Team Leader and the Commission Director of Administration and Finance, Jimoh Haruna Gabi made this disclosure in in an interview at Malale, in Borgu local government of Niger state.

Gabi explained that the recently embarked exercise on waterways in riverine areas is aimed at ensuring efficient clearance to boost the economic activities of the lives of the people in the communities.

He expressed satisfaction with the job activities within the clearance programme, urging the monitors to be alive to their responsibilities.

He also assured them of comfortability when the project is completed saying that the people will contribute significantly to the GDP of the country.

Gabi further explained that the scope of work was impressive, having witnessed the process from Malale to Shagunu down to Wara axis, adding that canoe commuters are adequately sensitized on the constant use of life jacket to avoid taking risk on the waterways.

L-,R,; All Progressive Congress (APC) Enugu-East zonal Women leader, Ms Kate Chukwu; Chairman, APC Enugu State, Dr Ben Nwoye and Women Mobilizer, Lolo Ngozi Nwangwu, during a news conference on the conduct of APC ward congresses in Enugu.

Sports major synergy builder among security formations - Ganduje From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

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overnor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state has described sports as the synergy builder between different security formations in the state.

He made this assertion at the weekend, during the opening ceremony of Kano state Military and Para - Military Games tagged” Service Games 2021” Saturday at Sani Abacha Stadium Kofar Mata.

Governor Ganduje said “there’s no doubt from what i saw during the match pass that the formation are ready for healthy competition.

“We are proud of you and people of Kano are also proud of you and i also believe this is the beginning of building synergy between different security formations military and para military alike”.

He therefore thanked the Kano state sports commission for living up to expectation by organizing such a competition that will show Kano youth a way out through sports.

Also, earlier in his address, the chairman Kano state sports commission Alh Ibrahim Galadima said the events are organized to build strong relationship between

security formations. “ Kano state sports commission is highly interested in searching and grooming young talents that will be representing the state in any sporting events. “ I’m very optimistic that if our talents under goes rigorous training they will definitely became a national assets” Galadima said.

Furthermore, he maintained that sport is an avenue that is capable of bringing harmonious coexistence among Nigerians, thereby making our teeming youths more productive.

It was gathered 618 registered athletes, drawn from various

security formations are going to be competing in the one week event, which is expected to be closed on 7th August, 2021.

The formations include: Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air force, Nigerian Police Force, Nigerian Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps ( NSCDC).

Others include Economic and Financial Commission (EFCC) Federal Road Safety Corps, Kano State Fire Service, Kano Road Traffic Agency (KAROTA), Kano Corporate Security, Hisbah and VIO respectively.

A cross section of party members, during All Progressive Congress (APC) ward executives and delegates election at Eke ward 2 of Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State.

Niger Gov’s Wife inaugurates committee to curb gender violence From Yakubu Mustapha, Minna

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ife of Niger State Governor, Dr. Amina Sani Bello has disclosed that a committee has been established on the standard operation procedures that will ensure all Legal Works on Gender Based Violence in the state.

Dr Amina Bello was speaking at a town hall meeting on Gender Based Violence issues at Emirs Palace in Minna, said law implementation of its laws was a challenge despite its passage by governor Abubakar Sani Bello.

She hinted that over one hundred cases of gender violence have been recorded on

mostly children with rape as the major cases, hence the need for accurate data of victims.

Governor’s wife decried over difficulty challenges in getting the required evidence to sentenced the accused persons, just as some cases going on in communities without being reported.

Director Gender Based Violence, Barrister Mario Man who is a Member of the committee says plans are on the way to sensitise every community on gender based violence.

Mairo Man also solicited the Media to play a major role in the sensitization drive to communities across the state.

PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

PAGE 8

News

AAU to engage Edo Gov’t over ‘unwholesome’ interference

By Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

T

he National Executive Council of the Ambrose Alli University has promised to continue to engage the Edo State Government over the unwholesome interference in the management of the University and the enactment of obnoxious “Intervention Law”.

This was one of the resolutions and outcome of the just concluded National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Alumni Association of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma held in Asaba the Delta State Capital at the weekend In a statement made available by the Worldwide Publicity Secretary of the Association, Barr Paul Abhulimen, the Association vowed to continue to engage the Government of Edo State over the unwholesome interference in the management of the university and the enactment of the obnoxious “Intervention Law”.

“The NEC resolved that the interest of the Ambrose Alli University will be paramount at all times and the Association will explore all legal and proper means, including but not limited to legal action to make sure the University continue to toe the path of progress.” The statement said.

The Association while commending the production of the Alumni Magazine, resolved to reconstitute it’s Editorial Board for added impetus.

One of the highpoints of the meeting was a courtesy visit to the Head of Service of Delta State, Mr. Reginald Bayoko mni, who was excited to receive the World-Wide President of the Alumni Association, Barr. Dave Emakunu and NEC

members to the State.

Also, Mr. Reginald Bayoko who was described as a prominent and notable Alumnus of the Ambrose Alli University was commended by NEC for been a source of pride to the Alumni Association through his dedication and capacity for hard work for the

betterment of the Delta State Civil Service.

The Worldwide President of the Association, Chief Dave Emakunu had earlier commended the sterling leadership qualities of the Delta HOS, Mr Reginald Bayoko and urged him not to relent in his efforts even as

he expressed the irrevocable commitment of the Alumni Association to forge ahead with its plan of construction a multi million naira ultramodern multi-purpose ICT centre in the school as part of the Association’s contribution to build solid infrastructure to promote learning and expand

the frontiers of knowledge.

The Association’s NEC meeting which was held at Okeyl Suite Asaba, also had other far reaching decisions that would promote rapid development and growth of their Alma mater to be a world class institution of higher learning.

Page 9

News

I’m not aware of fresh demand from kidnappers of Baptist School students -Proprietor From: Kaduna

Femi

Oyelola,

T

he President of the Baptist Conference, Kaduna, Rev. Ishaya Jangado, has said he was not aware of the fresh demand by the kidnappers of Bethel, Baptist School students as there was no update from the bandits.

He made the assertion while reacting to the report that the kidnappers of the students are demanding an additional ransom of N50 million to release

the remaining 83 students in their custody.

Jangado, who is also the proprietor of the school, said up till now there is no update, and they are still waiting for them to release the remaining students, It could be recalled that the President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, Rev. Israel Akanji, had said that the church did not pay any ransom for the release of the students.

According to him, he was not in a position to say whether the parents and well-wishers paid

ransom to the bandits.

He pointed out that “there are parents, well-wishers, and neighbours who are struggling for the children to be released, therefore we cannot restrict people from their actions in getting the children out, but as a group, we do not believe in paying the ransom.”

However, it was reported that after allegedly collecting N100 million ransom and promised to release in batches, students in their captivity, the gunmen reneged on their promise and

have asked for a fresh N50 million ransom before they would release the remaining 83 students.

Also, a close source told journalists that “after the parents contributed N100 million for the release of their children, the bandits ended up releasing only 28 of them, promising that others will be released in batches.

“Now they are demanding an additional ransom of N50 million to release the remaining 83 students in their custody.”

Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello-Koko (3rd L); Managing Editor of Thisday newspapers, Bolaji Adebiyi (2nd R); Managing Editor and Head, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Lagos Operations, Ephraim Sheyin, and other NPA staff when the NPA boss hosted the two media executives, yesterday in Lagos .

Peace promotion: New Delta Secretariat to be named after Asagba of Asaba

By Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

T Acting Director, Special Duties Department, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Alhaji Musa Abubakar (2nd L); Director-General, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Brig.-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim (M); Plateau State Coordinator, NYSC, Caroline Emburound (2nd R) and other officials, during Ibrahim’s visit to Plateau State Orientation Camp, yesterday in Mangu

Zamfara: Lawmakers deny plan to impeach Deputy Gov, Mahdi From Ibrahim Sidi Muh’d, Gusau

T

PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

he Zamfara State House of Assembly has denied holding any proceeding with a view to impeach the State Deputy Governor, Barrister Mahdi Aliyu, for his refusal to follow the Governor, Bello Mohammed Matawalle to decamp to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Assembly explained that the denial followed reading of the letter duly signed by the Deputy Governor at the hallow chamber of the Assembly by the Speaker, Rt Hon. Nasiru Mu’azu Magarya.

This was contained in a statement by the Director General Press Affairs of the Zamfara House of Assembly, Mustapha Jafaru Kaura.

The statement reads that, “In the said letter, the Deputy Governor drew the attention of the Speaker and by extension the entire House of Assembly of an impending Court action instituted by himself and his office to restrain the House from any impeachment process against him.

“When the letter was finally read, Speaker Magarya directed for the House debate over it and Hon. Yusuf Alhassan Kanoma representing Maru North has

faulted the content of the letter and the Court order itself, pointing out that at no time did the House ever discussed or deliberated on the move to impeach the Deputy Governor”.

According to the statement, honourable Kanoma described the letter sent to the House by the Deputy Governor and Court Order as out of contest.

However, it added that the Speaker and entire honorable members were called upon to direct the legal department of the House to critically analyse both the letter and the said Court Order and advise the House appropriately.

he Delta state government has announced that the multi-billion naira new civil service secretariat being built in Asaba would be named after the Asagba of Asaba, Obi (Prof.) Chike Edozien, in recognition of his remarkable contributions to the promotion of peace.

The state governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa disclosed this at the 30th coronation and 97th birth anniversary celebration of the Asaba monarch held at the weekend, at his palace in Asaba.

Okowa noted that the state secretariat sitting on a 54,000 square metres of land would be ready for inauguration in September, this year.

According to him, the reign of the Asagba had brought tremendous peace and sustainable development to Asaba and assured him that his administration would remain focused in the infrastructural transformation of the capital territory as well as other parts of the state.

Okowa said the drainage project in Asaba was on course, adding that the new Dennis

Osadebe University, Asaba, would be transformed to meet international standard.

He advocated the introduction of structural roles for traditional rulers, federal and states’ laws in the area of peace-building and development.

“I want to rejoice with our royal majesty and his family and the entire people of Asaba as our father, Obi Prof. Chike Edozie turns 30 years on the throne and as he celebrates his 97th birthday.

“We are proud of your reign as the Asagba of Asaba. I recall 1999 when we came into Asaba, looking back at that time and looking at what Asaba is today, we can all acknowledge that the reign of his Royal Majesty, the Asagba of Asaba, has brought a lot of development to this community.

“We are proud of the fact that our people have been very peaceful in this state and today, you would realise that persons from all parts of Delta State are quickly settling in Asaba and even our brothers and sisters from across the Niger and other parts of the South East and even many other places are beginning to settle in Asaba.

“It is because of the peace that we have provided for the people.

I must use this opportunity to thank the entire poeple of Asaba for giving the people and the government of Delta State, a very peaceful environment to truly operate,” he said.

The governor said that he had listened to the lecture delivered

by Prof. Epiphany Azinge, a chief in the Asagba’s palace, saying “I think he made a lot of sense and l think that the narratives out there is the need to create a structural role in governance for traditional rulers.

“I believe that there are certain roles that the traditional rulers play that you cannot take away from them. They play a very important role in community mobilisation which is good for governance and good for development.

“They also play a very important role in peace building which is good for our nation, moreso at this time that we find ourselves as a nation.

“If we are talking about security of our communities, the royal fathers are obviously best organised to truly organise our structures in our various

communities to provide the security architecture that works for our people.

“I believe that looking at all these, it is possible to truly structure a role that could enable the traditional rulers play a more effective and more inclusive role in governance that would be of major interest to our people.”

Okowa added that the establishment of National Council for Traditional Rulers would help protect them from interference of politicians and others who might want to kick them out of office against the wish of majority of their people.

While stressing the need for traditional rulers to be insulated from partisan politics, the governor congratulated the Asagba on his coronation and birth anniversary celebrations, and urged him to use the remaining days of his life for the service of God and humanity.

In a lecture titled “Imperative for Constitutional Roles for Traditional Rulers,” Prof.

Azinge noted that the traditional institution exerted considerable influence and authority from precolonial to post-independence era of the country.

Okowa mourns demise of veteran Nollywood actress, Rachael Oniga

By Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

G

overnor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta has commiserated with the Oniga family, Urhobo nation and Nollywood over the passing of veteran Nollywood actress, Rachael Oniga.

Our correspondent reports that the renowned movie star, aged 64 years old who hails from Eku in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta, reportedly died on Friday in Lagos.

Okwa, in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Olisa Ifeajika, on Saturday, in Asaba, expressed bewilderment at the passing of Oniga.

The Governor said late Oniga was a consummate actress, whose demise was a huge loss to Delta and Nigeria at large.

He noted that the deceased contributed immensely to the “revolution” in the movie industry in the country, saying that she was a great name in Nollywood, which she contributed hugely in birthing and nurturing.

The statement read: “on behalf of the government and people of Delta, I offer my deepest condolences to Oniga family and friends, including Nollywood community where the late veteran movie actress featured prominently as a matriach.

“The late Rachael Oniga was one of the country’s iconic movie actresses and was reputed to have featured in over 50 films during her career.

“She was indeed, a household name and a pride of our State.

She will be greatly missed by movie lovers and Deltans.

“It is my belief that the late Rachael Oniga will be long remembered and honoured for her good interpretation of movie roles and for the formation and growth of Nollywood.”

Okowa, however prayed that God would grant eternal rest to the soul of the departed Oniga and comfort her family and all who mourn her.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONday, august 2, 2021

PAGE 10

PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

News

Education budget to increase by 50% in next two years -FG

By Egena Sunday Ode

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari’s led Federal Government has pledged to increase the budget for the education sector by as much as 50 percent over the next two years.

The Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, disclosed this in a recent statement.

Insecurity entrenching poverty among rural dwellers - group says From: Kaduna

Femi

In a document titled, Heads Of State Call To Action On Education Financing Ahead Of The Global Education Summit, signed as a form of commitment at the on-going Summit in London, United Kingdom, the President was quoted to have stated: “We commit to progressively increase our annual domestic education expenditure by 50% over the next two years and up to 100% by 2025 beyond the 20% global benchmark.”

The Summit which is being co-hosted by the Prime Minister of UK Boris Johnson and the President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta seeks to give opportunity for leaders to make 5-year pledges to support GPE’s work to help transform education systems in up to 90 countries and territories, Adesina said in the statement.

The declaration read: “I join my brother, His Excellency, Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya to affirm our

commitment to improve learning outcomes in our respective countries by ensuring equitable access to quality and inclusive education for all our citizens, with particular emphasis on the girl child.

“We fully endorse the call for more efficient use of resources and to significantly increase investment in education by strengthening institutions, promoting greater adoption of technology, building the capacities of our teachers

and mobilizing additional financial resources through legal frameworks and deliberate intervention on a sustainable basis.

“In this regard, we commit to progressively increase our annual domestic education expenditure by 50% over the next two years and up to 100% by 2025 beyond the 20% global benchmark.

“Let us therefore raise our hands in solidarity to build a more secure and prosperous future for our children.”

T

This Tokyo disgrace

en Nigerian athletes last Wednesday were declared ineligible to compete in the ongoing 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games. The decision was taken by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).

This is an independent body that manages integrity issues, including doping. Besides Nigerian athletes, eight from other countries have been asked to withdraw. Two were replaced before their names were submitted to the World Athletics.

AIU explained that the affected athletes who represented some ‘Category A’ Federations were disqualified from the final entries for the Olympics for failing to meet the minimum testing requirements under Rule 15 of the Anti-Doping Rules. A part of the AIU statement read: “Under the framework of Rule 15 governing National Federation AntiDoping Obligations, which came into force in January 2019, National Federations are accountable for ensuring appropriate anti-doping measures are in place in their respective jurisdictions.

“Among other things, the Rule sets out minimum requirements for testing on the national teams of ‘Category A’ federations deemed to have the highest doping risk and considered as a threat to the overall integrity of the sport. The key requirement in Rule 15 is that an athlete from a ‘Category A’ country must undergo at least three no-notice out-of-competition tests (urine and blood) conducted no less than three weeks apart in the 10 months leading up to a major event.

Only then do they become eligible to represent their national teams at the World Athletics Championships or the Olympic Games.”

AIU listed the seven identified ‘Category A’ National Federations as

Belarus, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and Ukraine. It noted that ahead of the games, the ‘Category A’ Federations, working with their respective National AntiDoping Organisations (NADOs), made significant progress with respect to their domestic testing programmes. Nigeria was listed in ‘Category A’ at the start of 2020 after a continued period of weak domestic testing levels.

The expulsion of the 10 Nigerian athletes sparked a protest by the affected sport men and women in the games village. They are Blessing Okagbare Ighoteguonor, suspended for failing doping test, Divine Oduduru, disqualified for the 100m heat for a false start, and other athletes barred from competing including Ruth Usoro, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma, Annette Echikunwoke, Chioma Onyekwere, Knowledge Omovoh, Chidi Okezie, Glory Patrick, Tima Seikeseye Godbless and Yinka Ajayi.

Before then the Team Nigeria had been scandalized by non-delivery of its official kits.

The athletes and officials were in personal clothing during the Games’ opening ceremony.

Another big scandal was the reported confiscation of Samsung smart phones donated to athletes by officials of the sports ministry.

What a national disgrace! Worse, this happened before the very eyes of the whole world.

We understand that sport minister Sunday Dare had intervened to “bring the situation under control”. Whatever he did has not been revealed. One fact is clear: Nigeria has been shamed globally.

This disgrace cannot be brought “under control”. Those responsible for this disaster must go.

“

A

A cross section of Awards recipients, during the Majesty Global Publications’ Nigeria Patriot of Medical Practice Exemplary Awards at the Merit House in Abuja.

Niger School rehabilitation to gulp N427M From Yakubu Mustapha, Minna

N

iger state Government has commenced second phase of the Whole School Approach at the sum

N427 million for a total rehabilitation of Ahmadu Bahago Secondary School Minna.

The state commissioner for Education Hannatu Jibrin Suleiman made this known at

a recent weekly state executive council press briefing at the government house Minna.

She explained that the aim of the approach is to restructure the educational standard in the state as well as

to provide a conducive learning environment for pupils in the state.

Hannatu stated that most schools are dilapidated and necessary actions needed to be taken.

Letter to the Editor

EDITORIAL

Before then the Team Nigeria had been scandalized by non-delivery of its official kits.

The athletes and officials were in personal clothing during the Games’ opening ceremony

Oyelola,

faith based group, the Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria (CSWN), has asserted that the insecurity in parts of Nigeria is entrenching more poverty among vulnerable rural dwellers.

The Chief Operating Officer, Mrs. Agera Liti, made this assertion while donating relief materials to internally displaced people, IDPs, in Zonkwa, Zangon Kataf Local government area of Kaduna state, recently.

According to her, people in most rural communities are already battling to survive poverty, the current insecurity has further entrenched it by creating more needs.

She added that scarce resources in the hands of rural dwellers that would have been used in developing themselves and their communities would now be used in rebuilding destroyed homes, caring for the injured or caring for IDPs. This she adds, helps in pulling back the hands of development.

While praying for healing upon Kaduna and the nation in general, the COO call on the government to rise to its constitutional responsibility of security all its citizens while ensuring that lawbreakers are duly arrested and prosecuted.

The Rahama camp in Zonkwa holds thousands of IDPs that had run to it for refuge in the wake of recent attacks on rural communities in Zangon Kataf Local government by suspected armed herdsmen.

PAGE 11

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Mystery shopping: The eye opener from Senate

By Eze Jude Ogechukwu

I

t was the 28th American president, Woodrow Wilson, who, having seen the rots in governmental hierarchies of his time, exclaimed: “A government which was designed for the people has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy.”

This lesson-in-thought must have resonated in the minds of all lovers of this country on Wednesday 14th July, 2021 when the Senate Committee on Public Accounts released landmines contained in a report of 59 recommendations from its meticulous scrutiny of our public accounts, which was brought to the fore, at plenary of that day. The report was startling. It showed that “corruption” is still an ambiguous term in Nigeria. And thus, the fight against it has to be both stratified and categorized.

Most of our key national revenue generation apparatchiks are, by the reckoning of that report, enmeshed in endemic corrupt practices capable of pegging the country in perpetual poverty if not fought with sincere arsenals of transparency, patriotism, and integrity in order to rebuild public trust on government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

The headlines of most media outfits on the outcome of the committee’s investigation report, read: “The Senate faulted NNPC over under-remittance of N3.8trn of crude oil sales.”

It claimed that between January to December 2015 (i.e six years ago) this difference remained unremitted to government coffers, yet the country moved on.

The fact that such huge amount could remain unaccounted for, calls for concerns. It points to a frightening possibility of thousand other undiscovered (or may be, never-to-be discovered) misappropriation of public funds and sundry looting, clandestinely ongoing in many MDAs of government. The upper chamber of our national parliament went further to indict the Nigeria ports authority (NPA), Federal in-land revenue service (FIRS), Federal Ministry of Youths & Sports and SMEDAN for varied degrees of unholy financial dealings shrouded in jeering mystery.

But when one considers that plugging off these sorts of ignominy was the prima facie vocation of this regime, one will begin to shudder in utter dismay. From onset, President Buhari made it clear that he will double as Minister of petroleum. This means he will personally oversee the dealings of this most lucrative of all ministries where transparency had remained a strange visitor. He summarily raised our hopes that light has eventually dawned in the tunnels of NNPC. But six years down the line, the hen is at home to roost.

Most national dailies were unanimous in their reportage of the red chamber’s plenary decision, exactly as we saw in the live coverage of the session thus: “On financial infractions by the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Senate called for the sanction of the Permanent Secretary, in accordance with Rule 3129 of the Financial Regulations and Public Service Rules 030402 over the diversion of funds from the Capital Projects Funds for purchase of Sallah/Christians welfare package to staff of the Ministry. The upper chamber queried the sums of N46,645,000.00 and N56,418,135.00 for the printing of the Ministry’s letterheaded paper, and demanded that the sum be recovered and paid back to the treasury.”

And just before you scan over the figures in jolted disbelief, recall that Edo Governor, Godwin Obaseki, leaked a ‘supposedly’ classified government information three months ago. He raised alarm that the federal government reported a blank page on its April/ May federal revenue allocation sheet; which allegedly forced CBN to print new currencies in the border N60bn to share to states. The war of words that transpired between, and

among the governor, Minister of Finance and CBN governor which trailed that incident of government information leakage didn’t bother many experts of economics, since the veracity of each of their respective claims can be proved in a matter of months, when its effect on the economy will be marginally felt by the citizenry. And today, we all are witnesses to the current unsettling extraterrestrial inflation ravaging the country -- a testimony that what was denied three months ago was true.

But after that plenary in which impunity was laid bare by those allegations at the committee level, one will begin to see why the country has to face over 21% inflation rate. It also explained why inflation rate in food stuff subsector alone, according NBS 2021 second quarter report is well over 17%. Blueprint newspaper was amazed in its July 21 Business report that “staple food prices soar above the reach of average Nigerian” despite apex Bank’s intervention fund to rice farmers.

Why won’t government report zero internal revenue generation in April when mismanagement of funds are allegedly entrenched in MDAs and major revenue generation organs of government. It also begs the question: how is Mr. President faring in his ‘other’ office as Minister of Petroleum Resources? Why have we not seen or heard of any intervention from his desk in these gray areas of allegations against NNPC? No punitive measures whatsoever had been served to the alleged erring departments or officers.

While these and many more questions creeped up the mind, NNPC group managing director Mallam Mele Kyari, released a statement on 21st June, (exactly a week after the allegations) clearing the air. “The amount allegedly under-remitted is the applicable subsidy and unrealised revenue from petroleum products sales and other operational costs for the period.” read the statement.

He said breakdown of the various components of the alleged under-remitted amount which it said were presented as claims and were duly validated by forensic auditors and the Auditor-General of the Federation were as follows: PPPRA Certified Subsidy (2012-Nov 2015), N2.44 trillion (N2,439,859,459,982.00); Validated & Approved NNPC Claims (20042009), N797.7 billion (N797,710,684,354.00); crude oil and products losses (2012-Nov 2015), N245.2 billion (N245,184,597,565.65); pipeline maintenance cost (2012-Nov 2015) N409.9 billion (409,985,574,539.86); totaling N3.89 trillion in operational expenses (N3,892,740,316,442.12).

According to the corporation, “the root cause of the misunderstanding leading to the allegation is the non-incorporation of the above claims into the Accountant-General of the Federation’s report even though they had been validated by forensic auditors and the Auditor-General of the Federation.”

This implicates another lacuna as to why haven’t the Ministry of Petroleum Resources inaugurated an interministerial and/or interagency committees to reconcile these yawning information gaps among Auditor General of the Federation’s office and Minstry of Finance/ Accountant General of the Federation’s office, and spare Nigerians these perennial scandals?

However, while we await clarifying statements from the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, NPA, FIRS, SMEDAN and other agencies implicated in the indictments, it is fair to commmend the 9th Senate for peeling off the sticker label of “rubber-stamp” title sarcastically gummed to its leadrship, by the opposition party, to do a thorough oversight duty of checks and balances, on the executive arm of government and its agencies.

May daylight spare us!

Kind regards!

Yours faithfully Eze Jude Ogechukwu ezejudeogechi@gmail.com

PAGE 12

Opinion

PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

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PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

Comment

The place of education in public leadership

Criticism highlights Russia’s media weakness in Africa

I

I

By Jerome-Mario Utomi

still recall with vividness how participants at a symposium held on February 2018, in Lagos, unanimously agreed that common sense has a limit in public leadership and should not be the sole requisite for public leadership consideration; a position that supports sound education as an indispensable ingredient for achieving a people-purposed leadership. The symposium which had as its theme: ‘Leadership and Performance in Africa; the challenges of the continent’s economic competitiveness,’ was organized by the Centre for Leadership and Value,(CVL).

The event had in attendance, namely; Olusegun Obasanjo, a former Nigerian president, as the special guest of honour, Kandeh Yumkella, former directorgeneral, UNIDO and former presidential aspirant in Sierra Leone, as the keynote speaker, among others.

Yumkella’s keynote speech was apt, practical and realistic.

Though it was over 3 years since the keynote address was delivered, the content of that lecture remains relevant to the present political and socio economic discourse in Nigeria as a country and Africa as a continent. This piece stemmed from the new awareness gained from that gathering.

For Kandeh, knowledge must grow to retain knowledge. And the prerequisite for public leadership must transcend common-sense to accommodate sound/formal education. He argued that banking on common sense alone

may be defective as it has a limit it can go. Leadership, he told the bewildered gathering, calls for a proportionate mixture of both nature and nurture. Thus, when it comes to provision of authentic and development –focused leadership, the possession of sound education is an inescapable precondition while pointing out how leadership challenge has become our major undoing in Nigeria as a country and Africa as a continent, he used detailed illustrations to drive home his argument about how faulty leadership style has turned us to a nation/continent of; perfect practitioners of the Garden of Eden syndrome, ‘waiting for somebody to come and solve the problem, and a people of aid receivership mentality. He concluded.

Indeed, Yumkella in my views may not be wrong.

This judgment of mine is predicated on the fact that African as a continent and Nigeria in particular may have overtly shown remarkable improvement in their culture and civilization.

But, for the fact that more than 60 years after independence, African countries continually look up to Western worlds and recently China for aid, covertly tells a story of a continent lacking in capacity to take responsibility for its actions and initiatives for values. If you like, call it poor education needed for effective public leadership, you may not be wrong.

For a better understanding of this claim, the Chinese development aid to Africa, going

by reports, totaled 47% of its total foreign assistance in 2009 alone, and from 2000 to 2012 it funded 1,666 official assistance projects in 51 African countries. Also, the Brookings InstitutionAidData study found that at least 70% of China’s overseas aid was sent to Africa from 2000 to 2014.

This non-possession of sound education has made it pretty difficult for some leaders to differentiate between politics and leadership. A situation that has resulted in our leaders playing politics all the way while relegating leadership to the background. And the effect on the nation as we can see includes but not limited to;’ using the people to further their own ends, become selfish, unpleasant, narrowminded and petty. Playing politics in place of leadership invariably involves intimidating people, getting things done by lying and other dishonest ways.

No doubt, on that day, like every other participant, I left the MUSON centre, Onikan, Lagos venue of the programme with a glowing picture of how illequipped and blurred abilities of our leaders has advanced our dwelling in the wilderness of poverty and hopelessness despite being gifted with enormous mineral deposits.

Similar to the above belief, a report stated that ‘technically, the poverty in Nigeria is not relative poverty but absolute. It is not the type of poverty that is caused by famine, drought, civil unrest, but bad leadership. it has been in existence for more than three decades without respite in view.

However, even as it is believed that throughout history, more people have been killed by bad leadership than any other cause; I believed and still believe that Nigeria’s greatness is achievable if we can do the needful.

Getting this regeneration process catalyzed will require first, a demand for a shift in leadership paradigm ‘as we cannot be doing a particular thing in a particular way and hope for a different result’. This step is not just important but fundamental in retrieving the country from the “political capitalists’’ and have it positioned on the part of modernization.

In the same token, achieving hypermodern development will again necessitate a careful search for individuals with the abovelisted qualities to take over from the demagogues masquerading as leaders.

Similarly, giving the educated people devoid of booty sharing mentality but investment minded, their rightful positions in the management of our ‘’Garden of Eden’ while turning the aid received from donors and other interventionist groups to prosperity as in the case of Asian tigers will be a right step taken in the right direction. Such effort should be followed by democratized industrialization of the nation and integration of the nation’s economic towns/cities with effective transportation infrastructure.

Very germane, the need to educate our political leaders that the youths are not in any way rivals but partners in the business of

moving the project called Nigeria forward. Imperative also is the need for co-opting the youths into their political apprenticeship as it smacks logic that the fates and the futures of the youths are discussed daily without any input coming from the youths that will provide the future leadership needs of the country.

After all, great leaders recognize that when the youths take wings and soars, they too will soar. But getting the followers to soar takes courage, grit, determination and overwhelming passion. That notwithstanding, it is the responsibility of the leaders to make the followers better, which means trusting them, getting them the best resources.

Away from public office holders/political appointees, there is also an immediate need for revamping of our civil service.

The sector in my view is currently shaped with too many hands, but with too little work and lacking in the habits needed for civilization.

Getting the sector restructured by stripping it of bureaucracy which serves as the bedrock for the monumental corruption that exists in the country shall be considered not just important but essential.

We must internalize and put all these into action when making our choices come 2023 general election.

Utomi is the Programme Coordinator (Media and Policy), Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), Lagos. He could be reached via;jeromeutomi@yahoo.com

It’s clear who’s the one undermining the norms of science

By Zhong Sheng

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joint statement was issued Tuesday, July 27, in the name of so-called science officials from the US and its allies, in support of the second phase of the WHO-led COVID-19 origin study.

It says if China rejects the second phase of the study, then the country is not taking its responsibility to help the world learn a lesson from the crisis, and destroying the recognized norms long held by the science community.

As a matter of fact, this statement, which shows no respect to facts at all, shall be thoroughly studied by the US, rather than China, as it’s clear enough who’s not working to get rid of the pandemic and not protecting the norms of science.

The second phase of the origin tracing study recently proposed by the WHO is a document that has nothing to do with objectivity or the spirit of cooperation. It is not a plan that seeks the origins of the novel coronavirus, but one that tries to discredit China. China will never accept it.

China not only is the first country to have put COVID-19 under control, but also tries its best to offer materials, information and vaccines for the international community to tide over difficulties. Meanwhile,

China is also the first country to share relevant data with the WHO and join the origin tracing work in an all-round manner.

Earlier this year, a WHO-China joint team on the global study of the origins of COVID-19 launched a science- and evidence-based investigation into China. Being open, transparent, science-based and cooperative, China fully supported the work of the joint team and totally met its demands for investigation.

The country has set a good example for international cooperation on origin tracing.

The joint team studied how the virus was introduced to the human world with scientific evidence, and reached a conclusion that a lab leak was extremely unlikely, which was later broadly recognized by the international science community.

In fact, the China part of the global study of the origins of COVID-19 has been completed. However, the US, the most developed country in the world, is still experiencing a tragedy of over 611,000 deaths and nearly 35 million infections, and its arbitrary policies are making the virus spread to neighboring countries in a very fast manner. Given such facts, which country is not taking responsibility to help the world get out of the crisis?

The origin tracing study is a race between science and the virus,

which is both serious and urgent.

The second phase of the study shall be an extension of the first-phase one, and what was done in the first phase, especially by those that have reached a clear conclusion, should not be repeated, as to waste time is to disrespect lives.

More and more scientific studies indicated that COVID-19 could have originated in multiple countries and regions, and the cases of infection in the US and some other countries were earlier than the first case in China’s Wuhan.

However, the second phase study insists that lab leak shall be a focus, and ignores the significant clues of cold chains and the studies of early patients. Pointing fingers at China, it not only groundlessly denies the science-based conclusions reached in the first-phase study, but also turns a blind eye to the grave situation in the US and other countries.

Who’s damaging scientific rules by making such a plan that goes against science and common sense?

This question makes people infer that the so-called second phase of the origin tracing study has been severely disturbed by politics and deviates from science. Just as an expert said, the second phase of the study is an insult to the scientists who have spent months searching for the origins of the pandemic, as well

as a betrayal to science and facts.

The second phase of origin tracing disturbs and destroys international cooperation and the global efforts to fight the pandemic. The Resolution 73.1 adopted by the 73rd World Health Assembly requests the WHO to keep close cooperation with relevant international organizations and member countries, and search for the origins of COVID-19 on animals and its routes of transmission to humans through scientific collaboration and field investigations. This means that the next phase of the origin tracing study must be led by WHO member countries and the WHO must conduct extensive consultation with them for a final consensus. The draft of the work plan should be open and transparent, and shouldn’t be manipulated by a few countries.

However, the second phase study was proposed in a non-transparent manner, and is a product of political manipulation. So far, 60 countries have sent letters to the WHO to express their recognition of the first-phase results and opposition against politicizing the issue. It fully indicated international justice and the voices of these countries must be respected.

To find the origins of the virus can effectively prevent the rise of similar pandemics. Origin tracing must not

be contaminated by political virus, and is not a tool for a few countries to shirk responsibilities and oppress other countries. No one should employ it to divide the international society. Opposing the politicized second phase origin tracing study, China is indeed safeguarding the scientific nature and impartiality of origin tracing, the general picture of the global efforts to fight the pandemic, as well as the health and wellbeing of mankind.

When requesting China to safeguard the norms of science in the joint statement, the so-called science officials said they hope the standards could apply to the whole world, including their own countries.

However, such fake impartiality is just ironic. If they really mean it, they should ask their own countries and governments to be open and transparent, and invite WHO experts to launch origin tracing studies in their own countries, just like what China has done. They should also suggest their own governments to abandon political manipulation over origin tracing and deal scientific issues with science. That’s what science officials should do.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy and international affairs.)

By Kester Kenn Klomegah n her weekly media briefing July 23, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized United States support for educational programs, media and NGOs in Africa. In addition, Zakharova said “the allocation of grants fits into the White House’s efforts to promote the idea that there is no alternative to Western concepts regarding state governance and the imposition of alien values on sovereign states, and this represents another manifestation of neo-colonialism and an element of covertly formalizing inequality in the overall system of international ties.”

Russia’s position as contained in her briefing is available on the official website, and part of which is quoted here: “We have no choice but to comment and explain why we perceive this as Washington’s striving to eliminate the favorable regional socio-political background with regard to Russia that became particularly obvious following the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi in October 2019.

It appears that the United States is deliberately encouraging anti-Russia publications in some African media outlets and is trying to portray Russia as a destabilizing force. We are confident that such methods of unfair competition and misinformation show that there is no hard evidence confirming the socalled Russian policy of propaganda and misinformation, and this is also the consequence of weak US approaches in the field of public diplomacy.”

That well-said of the United States, it is equally important to note that since the Soviet collapse in 1991, the question of media representation

both ways, in Russia and in Africa, has attracted unprecedented concern and discussions. Over the years, nearly 30 years after the Soviet era, Russia has not encouraged African media, especially those from south of Sahara, to operate in the Russian Federation.

On the other hand, Russian media resources are largely far from eminent in Africa, and these include the media conglomerate popularly referred to as Rossiya Sevogdnya (RIA Novosti, Voice of Russia, Sputnik News and Russia Today), TASS News Agency and Interfax Information Service. These are powerful and reputable Russian brands, compared to most wellknown Western and European media organizations operate in and cooperate with Africa.

Even not quite long, that was in November 2018, the State Duma, the lower house of parliamentarians, called for an increased Russian media presence in African countries, while Russia has closed its doors in offering opportunities for Africa media representation in the Russian Federation.

During the meeting organized to brainstorm for fresh views and ideas on the current RussiaAfrican relations, State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin told Ambassadors from African countries: “it is necessary to take certain steps together for the Russian media to work on the African continent.”

“You know that the Russian media provide broadcasting in various languages, they work in many countries, although it is certainly impossible to compare this presence with the presence of the media of the United States, United Kingdom and Germany,” Volodin said, and promised that the State Duma would

create the necessary legal basis for this long-term media cooperation.

Experts say that neither Russia has an African media face nor Africa has a Russian media face. Thus, in the absence of suitable alternative sources, African political leaders and corporate business directors depend on western media reports about developments in Russia and from the developed world.

Interestingly, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Department has accredited media from Latin America, the United States, Europe and Asian countries, and only two African media came from the Maghreb region (Morocco and Egypt) in North Africa.

The official information presented during the first RussiaAfrica Summit, held in October 2019, explicitly showed the degree of priority given to African media.

Some 300 media bureaus from 60 countries are currently operating in Russia, including 800 foreign correspondents while there are only two African news bureaus from Egypt and Morocco, according to Artem Kozhin, who represented the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Department, at the panel discussion on media.

According to his interpretation, this extremely low representation of African media hardly meets the level of current dynamically developing relations between Russia and Africa.

“We invite all interested parties to open news bureaus and expand media cooperation with Russia,” Kozhin said at the gathering, inviting Africa media to Moscow.

Nearly all the panelists noted precisely that western media dominates in Africa. “Often times, unique news offerings created by the

Russian media simply do not make to the users and viewers in many regions, including Africa.

Evidently, this vacuum gets filled with one-sided information from other players in the media market.

This information can be biased, or outright hostile towards Russia and residents of other countries,” said Mikhail Bogdanov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Africa.

During the Russia-Africa Summit, Professor Alexey Vasiliev, the first appointed Special Representative of Russian President for Relations with Africa (2006-2011) and currently the Head of the Center for African and Arab Studies at the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (2013-2020), told the audience there in Sochi: “Africa is largely unaware of Russia, since African media mainly consumes information the Western media sources and then replicates them. And all the fake news, the Rusophobia and anti-Russian propaganda, spread by the western media, are repeated in the African media.”

“Measures are needed to enable us to better understand each other,” suggested Professor Vasiliev, who regularly advises the Presidential Administration, the Government of the Russian Federation, both chambers of the Federal Assembly, and the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Some experts have consistently argued that Russia has discriminated against the media from subSaharan Africa. That trend remains unchanged even after the first Russia-Africa Summit, held in Sochi with the primary aim of helping identify new areas and forms of cooperation, put forward

promising initiatives that would bring collaboration between Russia and Africa to a qualitatively new level and contribute to strengthening multifaceted cooperation between the two regions.

Let that be the acceptable case, but both Russia and Africa have basic questions that still need quick answers. The questions raised at the panel discussion on media at the Russia-Africa gathering: What issues are currently encountered in the formation of the modern media landscape?

What role does the media play in Russian-African relations? What are the prospects for collaboration in the information sphere? What needs to be done to develop a Russian media agenda in Africa? What is the role and place of Russia in the information space of Africa today?

What role can African media play in promoting further Russia’s image in Africa?

In practical terms, the highly successful spade-work was the first Russia-Africa Summit. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has to layout some new mechanisms and adopt a more favorable approach that could readily attract African media to operate in the Russian Federation.

Russia and Africa need to examine every sphere based on shared partnership interests and redefine practical approach to realizing whatever plans on media cooperation. Media and NGOs, as instruments for improving adequately public knowledge, especially on developments and emerging opportunities, have not been persuaded to match the desired future objectives and policy goals.

Kester Kenn Klomegah writes frequently about Russia, Africa and the BRICS.

2017 and January 2018.

Generally, most Nigerians see emigration as an escape from a non-working system; riddled with poverty, heightened insecurity, lack of opportunities and unemployment. While Nigerians relocating appreciate the economic opportunities by the country of destinations, these countries policies, acceptance and tolerance have also made it an attractive destinations of choice, which has led to general perception amongst actual and prospective migrants regardless of their social status that they are guaranteed a good quality of life, good health care services, safe and secured with respects for their human rights & dignities, and a sense of ease integrating into the society.

Most of these countries have benefitted from Nigeria’s best and brightest talents that have chosen them as it’s nationality or moved there for better opportunities, excelling in all circumstances is so deeply entrenched in the Nigerian psyche that the nation’s unofficial motto is “naija no dey carry last” . This winning mentality is visible home and abroad and has led to extraordinary and remarkable individuals doing great in diaspora, the likes of Afam Onyeama who was named

one of the most influential Migrant Africans in the US by WorldRemit for co-founding the celebrity backed GEANCO foundation. Dr. Bernet Omalu, the Nigerian-American physician neuropathologist, so brilliant Hollywood star Will Smith potrayed him in a bipoic movie titled “Concussion” after his work changed the face of sports. David Oyelowo; the Selma actor and black James Bond was born to Yoruba parents in London, England another BritishNigerian doing great is John Boyega, Anthony Joshua to mention but a few have all made massive impacts from diaspora.

A brain drain is looming, with the country losing so many well educated and highly skilled workers who unlike their predecessors planned to return to boost the economy, these present sets of emigrants don’t share the same view as some have even decided to dissociate themselves from their father’s land after emigrating. Though the country has received billions in foreign remittance but how do we manage 200 million people with just 74,000 registered doctors with many of them planning to leave the country.

Exodus of Nigerian Royal Flush

By Issa Babatunde Ahmed

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igerians immigrating to Canada also tripled in the last five years. In 2019, Nigeria accounted for 12,595 immigrant arrivals in Canada, the fourth highest country and the highest from Africa. The most populous black nation is now one of the main source countries of Canada’s skilled workers immigrants population and in recent time Nigeria had more pending refugee protection claims in Canada than any other country globally.

Emigration is a multifaceted social, economic and political phenomenon. The current wave of Nigerians emigrating has maintained an upward trajectory, with thousands relocating through a mix of avenues even the elites and politicians all have one leg outside the country with fallback plans like a second citizenship or residency.

In 2021, the migration rate in Nigeria stood at 0.29 per 1,000 population. This means that the number of people leaving Nigeria is slightly than those entering the country. Between 2000 and 2021, the migration balance stayed negative according to Statista.

According to the Migration Policy Institute, 61% of Nigerian-

Americans over 25 hold a graduate degree, making them one of the most “successful” ethnic groups in the US. Nigeria has the largest foreign born population in the United States with over 327,000 individuals, regarded as one of the most educated groups.

Nigerians immigrating to Canada also tripled in the last five years. In 2019, Nigeria accounted for 12,595 immigrant arrivals in Canada, the fourth highest country and the highest from Africa. The most populous black nation is now one of the main source countries of Canada’s skilled workers immigrants population and in recent time Nigeria had more pending refugee protection claims in Canada than any other country globally.

Emigrating accordingly requires time and it doesn’t come cheap, even after the whole process comes another phase, people take career setbacks wholeheartedly and most times it means starting from the scratch, regardless of the degrees bagged in home country but despite the known challenges the pursuit of a higher quality life remains a strong motivation.

However, people with no clue or little information fall victim as they are either swindled or lure into illegal

routes to leave the country by travel agencies who just want to make money, lleading people to pour into nations borders illegally providing fake documents or navigating through roads(deserts) and seas.

They often pay human traffickers who are vicious handlers paid to navigate migrants through wilderness and unsafe terrain, they are also known to frequently rob, rape, enslave and sometimes kill migrants.

Life is valuable and to see lives forcefully snuffed out by fellow human is traumatic and grevious but an attempt to seek a better life overshadows it for the desperate migrants who must navigate through places filled with wild animal predators capable of attacking before the human predators get the chance.

Starvation and dehydration are constant threats during this arduous trip, along with the chance of drowning somewhere along the way.

Nigerians have made up the largest migrants populations in many developed countries and have also been identified as the largest cohort of migrants trapped in Libya in the protracted Mediterranean migrant crisis(Eurostat 2015.) With over 6,700 Nigerians returned home from Libya through efforts Nigerian and International agencies between May

Issa Babatunde Ahmed is a Public Affairs Analyst.

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PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

News

Ghost workers: Bauchi removes 1,115 employees from payroll From Ahmad Mohammed, Bauchi

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auchi State Government has removed 1115 employees from the payroll and save 763,792,664.00 in the process, as part of the measures to effectively tackle the challenges of salary payment in the State public service.

However, Government said it warehouses 489,895,991.90 salary that could be paid to the cleared employees and pensioners of both state and local government.

The State Deputy Governor Senator Baba Tela stated this in Bauchi when he submitted the report of high powered committee set up by the State Governor Senator Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir to find a lasting solution challenges of salary payment in the State public service.v He said highlights of the report indicated that the total number of personnel uploaded from the state and local government service is 80,236.

•... saves N763.7M

Baba Tela, who is the Chairman of the committee said the committee considered some employees as illegal, the number of illegal employees are 2725 from State salary, 2704 from local government salary, 905 state pension and 807 from local government pension and government will save 511,270,138.49 monthly .

He added that the committee suggested that for sustainability of maintaining a credible nominally role and clean pay roll the committee recommended to the government to train all processes on the new business procedures, to continue with qualitative analysis of nominal roll data, deployment of pay solution and human resources management information system immediately after the training.

According to him, “other recommendations by the committee include upgrade of supportive ICT

infrastructure Audit, Gap analysis, provision of executive dashboard for the Governor and chief executive officers from the clean and authenticated nominal roll.

“Information on employees from merged and and demerged government ministries, implementation of all verified ministerial observations, and centralization of the salary supervision and control.”

Baba Tela also advised that a monitoring and evaluation committee be put in place to continuously assess the performance of the software and to take disciplinary action on all violators of the new salary reforms.

Receiving the report, Governor Bala Mohammed thanked the committee for a job weldone and pledge to use the save funds to employ more state indigines in to public service.

Governor Bala said government

will continue to pay monthly salary as and when due, and assured that award of contracts will not affect salary payment In the state.

He said Government will set up a committee that will implement the report to ensure the success of the exercise.

On his part, Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress comrade Danjuma Saleh pledged their support ,loyalty to the government to implement the report.

He therefore appealed to the Governor to hasten the implementation of the report in order to address the lingering problem once and for all.

Recall that Governor Bala had set up a high powered committee on 23rd March, 2021, to address the problem of ghost workers in government payroll in the state and local government civil service.

Gombe state Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya addressing All Progressives Congress, APC supporters during the party’s congress at his Jekadafari Ward in Gombe Local Government Area yesterday.

HJRBDA moves to control flood in Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi states From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse

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he Federal government of Nigeria through Hadeja Jamaare River Basin Development Authority(HJRBDA) promised to do all it best to control incidences of flooding, along the three operating states of the authority.

The Managing Director of HJRBDA Ma’amun Da’u Aliyu, gave the assurance while speaking with newsmen on achievement recorded under present administration.

Aliyu, who lamented that the devastating flood ravaging some part of the three states was avoidable, said sometimes it is caused as a result of typer grasess that blocked some part of the river.

He maintained that since the establishment of Hadeja river irrigation scheme during former president Shagari’s administration only present administration embarked on dredging,rehabilitating and expanding the scheme.

He added that in the last three years, HJRDA embarked on decilting the typer grasses along the Hadeja river valley to control the flooding and improve the irrigation system.

He reveals that “as part of continues efforts of decilting the typer grasses in the river, HDJRB will soon receive a heavy duty machine use for desilting and dredging the river”, he said.

According to him, the machine

will be use for regular clearance and dragging of the river Hadejia which will help in the increase of water flow in the river and also address the perennial flooding that kill people and destroy farmland and properties worth billion of Naira .annually He added that, hundreds of farmers and water users were trained and engaged by Hadejia Jama”are River Basing Development Authority (HDRBDA) for effective maintenance and protection of multi Millions dollars irrigation facilities in Kano and Jigawa state.

The MD further explained that, the Federal government in collaboration with World Bank embarked on the total rehabilitation of the irrigation scheme under

Hadejia Jamare and other three River Basing Development Authority in the Northern Nigeria The MD noted that, under the project known as Transforming Irrigation Management in Nigeria (TRIMIN) carried out by Federal Government and World Bank, there is a component for training and capacity building of farmers to enable them take part in the maintenance of the irrigation facilities .

“Henceforth, after the TRIMIN project farmers will take ownership for maintenance of all primary Irrigation Facilities and Water ways, while federal government will take care the secondary facilities including Dams, Rivers and Main Canal”, he stressed.

Insecurity: Catholic group seeks divine intervention in Kaduna From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

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orried by the incessant killings, kidnappings going on in Kaduna state and other parts of the country, Kaduna Metropolitan Council of Ladies of Saint Mulumba, Catholic Church has embarked on prayer and fasting for God’s intervention for the restoration of peace in the state.

Speaking to the media in Kaduna, yesterday the Kaduna Metro, Mrs. Esther Ambosom explained that the prayers and fasting are being undertaken as measures to seek the face of God’s intervention of what people are going through especially the recent killings and attacks on Southern Kaduna.

She said their prayers to God are for total restoration of mutual understanding among the ethnic groups in Southern Kaduna and the end of the incessant killings and destruction of houses, crops in farmlands, and other valuables.

She further explained that women in Kafanchan, Sokoto, Minna, Funtua, and other places have all join in the prayers and fasting towards ensuring sanity in the society.

In her response, the Kaduna zonal coordinator, Mrs. Rose John Bagu said they are disturbed with the rising incessant killings and kidnapping of innocent Nigerians, particularly in Southern Kaduna where blood is being shed and property destroyed daily.

According to her, “As we are praying here in Kaduna, our ladies in Sokoto, Kafanchan, Minna, and other places in the Kaduna Metropolitan Council are also praying along with us for the restoration and sustenance of peace in the land.”

She added, “We have many of our brothers and sisters that have been kidnapped and are presently in bushes in this harsh weather day and night for ransoms of millions of naira to be paid before they are released and some being killed after paying the ransom for no just reason but the wickedness of man to man.”

One of the men leaders, Mr. Timothy Kukwai hailed the efforts of the women in praying for the peace of the nation especially with the incessant killings and destruction of valuables taking place in Southern Kaduna, assuring that the Almighty would bring the perpetrators to judgment if they do not repent of their evil activities to humanity.

He enjoined the federal and Kaduna State governments to take measures that bring an end to the wanton destruction going on in Southern Kaduna by ensuring the perpetrators are brought to book while assistance is rendered to those affected by the destruction of their valuables.

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PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

PDP alleges attack on party men, supporters by Umahi govt

By Christiana Ekpa

T

he former secretary to the government of the federation, Senator Pius Anyim Pius, former governor of Ebonyi State, Sam Egwu and other leaders of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in Ebonyi at the weekend alleged plots by Governor David Umahi to launch an attack on its supporters in the state.

The PDP chieftains alleged that the party’s teeming supporters in the state have continuously been attacked and harassed by the Ebubeagu group formed by the state government.

The party in a communique signed by the former senate president Anyim Pius Anyim, ex-governor Sam Egwu and 35 others and forwarded to journalists shortly after a stakeholder meeting in Ebonyi State.

The former Senate President, Anyim and other leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), also alleged that since they refused to defect with Governor Umahi to the All Progressive Congress (APC), the PDP and its supporters have been on the watch list of Ebubeagu group.

The leadership of PDP alleged also that the state government has covertly established special detention centres in the state, where kidnapped political opponents are kept and tortured.

The party also alleged that the creation of the Ebubeagu Security outfit by the government has increased persecution of political opponents in the state.

The communique reads in part: “What is most worrisome about the Ebonyi variant of Ebubeagu is that the recruitment, deployment and rules of engagement, including their command structure, is shrouded in secrecy. It is difficult, therefore, to hold them accountable for their crimes.

“What is more dangerous is the fact that since they operate in mufti, it is difficult to separate their activities from that of unknown gunmen and other criminals”, it said.

The party called on security agents in the state to investigate all the crimes against it.

“We call on the security agencies to investigate the secrete detention centres set by the Ebonyi state government, and release the dying occupants immediately to rejoin their families and loved ones”, they stated.

In a swift reaction, the Ebonyi Commissioner for Internal Security, Stanley Okoro Emegha, said such allegations were untrue and unfounded, adding that the Ebubeagu group that was under his ministry will continue to do things that will secure the state.

“There is nothing like detention camps in Ebonyi government house.

The people making this allegation are trying to draw attention but they have failed.

Anambra poll: ZLP substitutes ex PDP candidate, Okonkwo, with own candidate

By Musa Baba Adamu

T

he Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) has substituted its governorship candidate for the November 6 election in Anambra State, Uche Ugwoji with Obiora Okonkwo.

The party will also unveil Okonkwo and his running mate, Jessie Balonwu, a former lawmaker and Commissioner in Anambra State to the people on a soon to be announced date.

Okonkwo, a former member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had resigned from the party at the weekend after contesting to fly the flag of the party in the November 6 governorship election in the state.

Media adviser to Okonkwo, Achilleus-Chud Uchegbu, who

disclosed the substitution of the party’s candidate to Okonkwo, said the process was completed on Friday, July 30, 2021, at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Uchegbu, in a press release made available to journàlists in Awka said: “With the development, Dr. Okonkwo will now be on the ballot as the candidate of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) for the November 6 election in Anambra State.

“The submission followed Dr. Okonkwo’s resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Okonkwo resigned from the PDP in protest following the outcome of an illegitimate primary election where the Party abandoned its constitution and foisted on the

members a process that cannot stand the test of the law thereby leaving the party with a barrage of litigations that do not point a clear direction as the November 6 election approaches.

“Also submitted to INEC was the name of Dame (Barr.) Jessie Balonwu, a former member of the House of Representatives and also a former State Women Leader of the PDP, a running-mate to Dr. Okonkwo.

“Dame Balonwu, who is from Onitsha North and South Federal Constituency of Anambra North Senatorial District, was also the first Igbo female senator-elect and Commissioner for Education in Anambra state. She also served the state meritoriously as Chairman, Anambra State Universal Basic Education Board

(ASUBEB between 2005 and 2007.

“The leadership of ZLP will formally unveil Dr. Okonkwo and Dame Balonwu to the good people of Anambra State in the next few days,” Uchegbu said.

Since after the primary election of the PDP in the state, which saw Okonkwo losing to Valentine Ozigbo, with a very slim margin, several groups have called on him to re-enter the race through another party, stating that he had all the qualities needed for the governorship position of the state.

One of the groups, Anambra Rescue Mission (ARM) led by Azubike Anazor had last week addressed journalists, saying it would lead a delegation to the Ogidi-born Chief to accede to their request.

L-R: Director of organization, All Progressives Congress (APC) Prof Abudullahi Usuji Mustafa; Chief of staff to the Governor of Yobe State, Alhaji Abdullahi Yusuf Gasau and member of the Caretaker Committee APC, Mamman Tahir (SAN) during a press conference on the decision of the APC to continue with the Nationwide congress at the Party’s National secretariat on Friday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

PDP a toothless, hungry Hyena, not a Court of Law - APC

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

A

ll Progressive Congresses (APC) has described Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as an old, lonely, toothless and hungry Hyena wandering aimlessly in the jungle of political wilderness.

In a statement issued yesterday by the National Secretary of the party, John James Akpanudoedehe, APC said Nigerians are fully aware of PDP’s antecedents and will never take it seriously no matter how much empty noise it makes.

APC, in the statement, noted how arrogantly the PDP has become an interpreter of the laws of the nation by ignorant comments on the recent Supreme Court judgement which affirmed the election victory of the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu and dismissed the PDP’s case on the grounds that it was incompetent.

“Instead of being humbled by that defeat, the PDP has turned itself into an alternate court by misrepresenting the decision of majority members of the Supreme Court that

did not hinge its ruling on Section 183 of the 1999 constitution as the PDP labours to spin.

“Our position stands. It is not our intention to join issues with self-proclaimed interpreters of our laws which unsurprisingly now includes the PDP on the status of the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC ) and its membership. The Apex Court ruling had no bearing on the validity or otherwise of the APC CECPC chaired by Governor Mai Mala Buni.

“While the PDP and their fellow travelers labour to sell their falsehoods, backed by solid legal guidance, APC is on good grounds to conduct its Congresses leading to the National Convention’, APC said in the statement.

It also questioned if the PDP is now a Court of Law, pointing out that it is a reflection of their propensity to hang on straws and murky thinking which shows that they should not be trusted with power again given their inability to think clearly, not to talk of running a country properly.

‘The PDP is apparently using this baseless comments on the APC leadership to distract

attention from its depleting fortunes and rudderless leadership which has led its members and leaders to abandon the failed opposition in droves for the APC which is providing Nigerians with purposeful leadership, rebuilding the nation and institutionalising the rule of law.

‘That the Uche Secondus-led PDP leadership is currently grappling with a serious crisis of confidence among its members and leaders is no longer news. However, we offer free advice: imbibe internal democracy; have focus; shun corruption and be orderly in your conduct as a sign of repentance and atonement for wasting 16 years misgoverning our country.

“The APC’s internal democracy and progressive politics which has been deepened by the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led leadership of the APC CECPC has demonstrated its sterling organisational capability which led to credible ward Congresses. On the other hand, the PDP is so disorganised that it is unable to complete its abandoned national Secretariat”, the statement said.

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

POLITICS

R-L: Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya; with Yobe State Governor & National Chairman, APC Caretaker/ Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Mai Mala Buni, at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport on Saturday in Abuja.

PDP, APGA, AA supporters numbering over 5000 joins APC in Imo

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

A

combination of about 5,000 members defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Action Alliance (AA) have joined the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Imo State.

The defectors were received into the APC fold by the leader of the party in the Owerri zone, Prince Lemmy Akankem.

This was contained in a statement sent to journalists on Sunday.

Speaking while receiving the defectors, the APC leader in the Owerri zone, Prince Akankem, attributed the mass defection to the shared prosperity of Governor Hope Uzodimma’s government.

He said “Your defection and registration into our party has afforded you all the opportunity to be bonafide members of our

great party, in no distant time PDP will soon empty itself into APC, I assure you today that every one of you will be carried along in the scheme of things”.

Meanwhile, Governor Uzodimma charged the party members to erase the mindset of controlling the party structure and work in service to the people.

The Governor said “As a family, the structure of the party lies within the people and not any individual. We will continue to

integrate processes that would be beneficial to every member of the party and for the interest of the electorates. It is on this premise that the National Leadership of our party directed an open congress and we must adhere to it strictly.

“I can go into a room and write a list for you, but I can’t because I want transparency. So if I didn’t do it, please don’t do it. Let transparency rule us.” Uzodimma stated.

APGA reconciles with Bianca, invokes Ojukwu’s spirit for Anambra election

T

he All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Peace, Reconciliation and Outreach Committee met with Bianca Ojukwu at the weekend to mend fences with the wife of the party founder.

Bianca Ojukwu, the wife of late party national leader, Chukwuemeka Ojukwu was formerly Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain.

The delegation led by an exAPGA chairman, Victor Umeh,

included the Anambra House of Assembly Speaker, Victor Okafor.

Umeh said that the visit was to reconcile with Bianca ahead of the Anambra election.

“We are invoking the spirit of Chief Chukwuemeka Ojukwu as well as his fatherly guidance and blessings as we embark on this journey”, NAN quoted him as saying.

“Bianca has contributed to the wellbeing of APGA starting from the time her late husband was the

leader of the party.”

Noting that there are bound to be disagreements, Umeh assured all members that they would be carried along.

The politician stressed that the ideals the party was established on must be protected.

Umeh described the visit as a turning point in APGA’s journey to the gubernatorial election.

In her remarks, Bianca lamented that the party found itself in an avoidable dilemma.

She regretted that previous efforts made to assuage aggrieved members of the party hit the rock.

Bianca recalled how the first and second reconciliation committees made recommendations which never saw the light of day.

“I am very much looking forward to putting behind the dark history of the party and the bad experiences that so many of its members have had and are still experiencing”, she said. (NAN)

2023: PDP dead, buried in Kogi – Commissioner

By Christiana Ekpa

T

he Kogi State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Wemi Jones, has said the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) is waxing stronger on a daily basis as the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has

been rejected by the citizens of the state.

Jones, who stated this at the APC Ward Congress in Kabba, KabbaBunu Local Government Area of the state, maintained that PDP is dead and buried in Kogi State.

Expressing optimism that the APC will win massively in the

forthcoming general elections in the country, Jones stated that the party has continued to grow stronger at the grassroots, state and national levels.

According to him, some governors from the opposition have continued to join the ruling party as more are still expected soon, describing the development as an

indication that APC is a popular party.

According to Jones, KabbaBunu APC complied in totality to the directive of the State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, to return all caretaker executives, noting that the exercise was conducted in the area without rancor.

Secession threats: Ganduje, Okorocha, Fashola brainstorm on sustainable Nigeria

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

F

ollowing the recent agitations for separation by some groups and individuals, top leaders of the All Progressive Congresses (APC), will gather in Abuja to discuss the sustainability of Nigeria as a united nation.

At a one-day conference, Kano state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, is billed to give a keynote address which thereafter will be discussed by a five-man discussants which include; the former Governor of Imo state, Senator Rochas Okorocha, incumbent Minister of Works and Housing, Raji Fashola (SAN), Senator Peter Nwaboshi, Minister of State Federal Capital Territory, Hajia (Dr.) Ramatu Tijjani -Aliyu and Senator Opeyemi Bamidele.

The event slated for Thursday August 5, 2021 at Ladi Kwali conference center, Sheraton Abuja, is a brain- child of the APC Press Corps.

The public lecture series is aimed at contributing to the intellectual development of the nation’s democracy.

The topic for the one-day event is “Sustaining United and Indivisible Nigeria: A myth or Reality.”

In a statement signed by the Chairman organising committee, Babatunde Ayeni, Sunday in Abuja, said the APC Chairman, Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) and Governor of Yobe State, Hon. Mai Mala Buni, will be Chairman of the occasion.

Other prominent Nigerians expected to speak at the event include; Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege, Minister Trade and Investment, former governor Niyi Adebayo, Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timiprye Sylva, Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo (SAN), Hon. James Faleke, Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) Mr. Osita Okechukwu, Director General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) Salihu Moh Lukman, among others.

The statement said: “The public lecture series is aimed at providing workable template options for effective good governance and serve as a medium for the deepening of democratic norms and institutions by engaging key players in politics, public administration, academia and economy. Report and suggestions on the lecture will be made available to the party and interested members of the public.”

On the choice of Governor Ganduje as the keynote speaker, the statement said the Governor’s impeccable political antecedent and being an active participant in the on-going Nigerian project was considered.

PAGE 17

PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

POLITICS

EFCC purported arrest: My hands are clean - Saraki says

By Musa Baba Adamu

F

ormer Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has stated that he has nothing to hide over his previous political stewardship at various levels, given his repeated invitation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for questions on allegations of corruption and money laundering.

Saraki in a statement by his Media aide, Yusuph Olaniyonu said he visited the office of the EFCC on his volition to clarify an issue that the commission may have to raise with him, pointing out that he was not arrested but he made himself available to show he has nothing to hide.

Recall that Saraki was allegedly arrested by EFCC Saturday after attending the wedding ceremony of one of his loyalists and former Governor of Kwara State, senator Shaba Lafiagi, over allegations of money laundering and corruption.

The immediate past Senate President was said to have used several proxy companies to launder money and executed some alleged contracts for Kwara State under Saraki, which made returns for many years to him.

However, Saraki in the statement wrote: “It will be recalled that following the order of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on the Fundamental Human Rights case filed by Dr. Saraki during the period of the former chairman of the EFCC which precluded the commission from investigating him until the matter is dispensed with, the commission at the last hearing on July 14, 2021, pleaded with the judge that the order was preventing them from doing their job.

“Following this complaint, Dr. Saraki, as a responsible citizen, on his own volition approached EFCC that at the earliest convenient date, he was willing to visit the commission’s office and clarify all issues they might have to raise with him.

“He, therefore, visited the commission’s office on Saturday (31st July) afternoon and also answered some questions.

“He is back home. He was not arrested,” Part of the statement read.

Saraki also assured EFCC that he has nothing to hide and will always make himself available to clarify any issues that may require his attention.

Oyo APC records parallel congresses in Ogbomoso, Ibadan T

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

he All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has recorded parallel congresses in Ogbomoso and Ibadan areas of the State, despite the warning by the party leadership cautioning members against such actions.

APC ward congresses were held across the country on Saturday, with that of Oyo State being held under the supervision of Alhaji Gambo Lawan.

It was however learnt that parallel congresses were held in some wards in Ogbomoso North Local Government Area and other parts of the town.

It was alleged that the parallel congresses were held by loyalists of a former Governor of the State, Chief Christopher Adebayo AlaoAkala, and those of the Minister of Youths and Sports, Sunday Dare.

Recall that Alao-Akala and Dare and the Chairman of the party in the state, Chief Akintola

Oke, are from Ogbomoso North LGA, just as parallel congresses were also reported in some parts of Ibadan, the state capital.

Findings revealed that the parallel congresses were held in some parts of Ibadan South East and Akinyele local government areas. The parallel Congresses were held in Ward 2 of Ibadan South East and Ward 8 of Akinyele.

Publicity Secretary of the party, Abdulaziz Olatunde,

however denied knowledge of the parallel congresses.

Speaking on Sunday, Olatunde noted that anyone organising parallel congresses is on his own.

“The issue of proliferation of congresses does not make sense.

Because the party from Abuja has warned against such.

“And if any group is found doing that, they are on their own.

But, to the best of my knowledge, there is nothing like parallel congresses in existence”, he said.

FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello (2nd right) examining the Hyundai Kona electric car with the DG, National Automotive Design and Development Council Jelani Aliyu (right) during the visit of the NADDC management to the FCTA, at the weekend Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Abba Kyari: Why US is out to expose Buhari’s govt – Bamgbose

By Christiana Ekpa

A

chieftain of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Olusegun Bamgbose, has said the United States may be all out to expose President Muhammdu Buhari government over its failure to heed to multiple calls to unban Twitter in Nigeria.

Bamgbose, who was reacting to the move by US authorities to arrest and extradite Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, over his involvement with international fraudster, Ramos Abbas, also known as Hushpuppi, pointed out that Buhari’s aides, advisers and ministers are not wellgroomed in international diplomacy and warned that the Federal Government should expect more of these from the United States.

According to him, the US government is in possession of some shocking secrets of the Buhari government but have decided to remain silent for reasons best known to them.

“There is a saying that one good

turn deserves another, this is also applicable in international relations and diplomacy,” he said on Sunday.

“It’s on record that the United States condemned in clear terms the continuing ban on Twitter in the country, saying the action ‘has no place in a democracy’ and that ‘Freedom of expression and access to information both online and offline are fundamental to prosperous and secure democratic societies’ “This was made known to the public by State Department spokesperson Ned Price, he emphatically called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to reverse its Twitter ban.

“However, unfortunately, the Federal Government turned deaf ears and chose to snub the United States. The repercussion is here, in essence, Abba Kyari’s saga could be the backlash of the Federal Government turning down the US call to reverse the Twitter ban.

“Unknown to many, American prosecutors first sought a court warrant to arrest Kyari on February

12, 2021, another warrant was requested on April 29, 2021, but these were turned down by the Judge.

“Judge Wright’s permission for the FBI to arrest Mr.Kyari and hold him in United States custody was unsealed on July 26. There is always a price to pay when the right thing is not done at the right time.

“Many of Buhari’s Aides, Advisers, and Ministers are not well-groomed in international diplomacy.

The Federal Government should expect more of these from the United States.

“Last week the FBI agents had a second meeting with Nigeria’s Police IG to demand Abba Kyari’s arrest and extradition.

“One will strictly advise the Federal Government to release Abba Kyari to the FBI. Currently, the Federal Government wants Igboho extradited to Nigeria from the Benin Republic, there is therefore no basis to withhold Abba Kyari from facing trial in the US. “In the few weeks to come

there will be more revelations that may portray the Presidency in a bad light. The United States has classified Buhari’s Government as being rude and unfriendly.

“All these could be traced to the Twitter ban and some other developments aimed at gagging press freedom. Refusal to release Abba Kyari will certainly not help the already strained relationship between the two countries.

“Let Abba Kyari go and defend himself, after all, a clean conscience fears no accusation. The earlier the better for Buhari’s to know that Nigeria cannot stand alone. The Twitter ban should be reversed forthwith.

“Press freedom should not be tampered with, the United States should not be pushed to expose hidden things about this government.

“The US government knows a lot about Buhari’s government that will shock many Nigerians.

However, for reasons best known to them, they have decided to keep mute”, Bamgbose said.

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

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PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

Stock Watch: Friday, July 23, 2021 Low

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2.80 3.15 0 1.94 3.94 0 0.27 0.27 0 0.64 0.64 0 4.60 8.60 0 37.00 68.30 0 3.79 4.21 0 9.65 10.05 0 31.50 34.00 0 1.90 1.92 0 18.45 18.45 0 1.72 1.84 0 23.25 23.25 0 0.20 0.20 0 0.20 0.20 0 6.10 6.10 0 1.75 1.75 0 186.00 186.00 0 6.00 6.65 0 14.60 14.55 0 1.80 2.00 0 3.37 3.37 0 4.30 4.70 0 14.00 14.00 0 7.35 7.80 0 1.62 1.65 0 1.91 1.96 0 4.95 4.95 99 0.33 0.33 0 21.85 21.85 0 29.60 30.70 0 0.20 0.20 0 12.20 13.05 0 32.60 32.95 0 72.00 72.00 0 1.18 1.18 0 1.53 1.53 0 31.50 31.50 0 0.51 0.54 0 0.20 0.20 0 23.25 23.25 0 0.44 0.44 0 0.30 0.30 0 1.36 1.36 0 0.72 0.72 0 0.52 0.49 0 1.83 1.83 0 2.45 2.45 0

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NNPC records petroleum product sale of N234.63bn in March

By Etuka Sunday

T

he Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced that its downstream subsidiary, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), recorded ₦234.63 billion revenue from the sale of white products in the month of March 2021 representing a 24.7% increase from the ₦188.15billion sales recorded in the previous month of February 2021.

This is contained in the March 2021 edition of the NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR), according to a press release by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the Corporation, Dr. Kennie Obateru.

The report indicated that total revenues generated from the sales of white products for the period of March 2020 to March 2021 stood at ₦2.129trillion, where petrol contributed about 99.24% of the total sales with a value of ₦2.113trllion.

In terms of volume, the above value translates to 1.75billion litres of white products sold and distributed by PPMC in the month of March 2021 compared to 1.4billion litres in the month of February 2021.

This volume is made up of 1.782billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and 0.45million litres of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO).

Total sale of white products for the period of March 2020 to March 2021 stood at 17.374billion litres and PMS accounted for 17.265billion litres or 99.37%.

The NNPC continues to diligently monitor the daily stock of PMS to achieve uninterrupted supply, effective distribution and zero fuel queue across Nigeria.

In the Gas Sector, a total of 222.74billion cubic feet (bcf) of

natural gas was produced in the month March 2021 translating to an average daily production of 7,183.33million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd).

For the period of March 2020 to March 2021, a total of 2,911.62bcf of gas was produced representing an average daily production of 7,409.60mmscfd during the period.

Production from Joint Ventures (JVs), Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) and NPDC contributed about 63.23%, 19.78% and 63.99% respectively to the total national gas production.

In terms of natural gas off-take, commercialization and utilization, out of the 210.55bcf supplied in

March 2021, a total of 138.38bcf was commercialized, consisting of 45.42bcf and 92.96bcf for the domestic and export market respectively.

This translates to a total supply of 1,465.42mmscfd of gas to the domestic market and 2,998.26mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month.

This implies that 63.18% of the average daily gas produced was commercialized while the balance of 36.82% was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared.

Gas flare rate was 9.50% for the month under review (i.e.

671.13mmscfd) compared to average gas flare rate of 7.25% (i.e.

532.37mmscfd) for the period of

March 2020 to March 2021.

On domestic gas supply to the power sector, a total of 844mmscfd was delivered to gas-fired power plants in the month of March 2021 to generate about 3,530mega watts (mw) compared with February 2021 where 825mmscfd was supplied to generate 3,580mw.

The report also informed that the Corporation recorded 70 vandalized points across its pipeline network in the period under review, representing 29.63% increase from the 54 points recorded in the previous month.

While the Port Harcourt area accounted for 63% of the vandalized points, the Mosimi area

accounted for 21% and the Gombe area accounted for the remaining 16%.

NNPC is, however, working in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders to effectively monitor the pipelines with a view to reducing and eventually eliminating the menace of pipeline vandalism.

The March 2021 MFOR is the 68th edition of the report, it is published monthly to keep the Nigerian public up to date with the operations of the Corporation in line with the management’s guiding philosophy of Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE).

L-,R; 13th District Governor of Rotary District 9125 Nigeria, Rotarian Ayoola Oyedokun (2nd L); his wife Mojisola (L) his predecessor, Rotarian Jimoke Gbamgboye (5th L), and other dignitaries, during the investiture of Oyedokun as the of the 13th District Governor of Rotary District 9125 Nigeria on Saturday in Abuja

SEC inaugurates Securities Issuers Forum

By Etuka Sunday

T

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in collaboration with the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) is set to inaugurate the Securities Issuers Forum via webinar.

This was stated by the SEC in a statement released in Abuja weekend.

The Commission said the event which will hold on Wednesday August 4, 2021, is expected to have in attendance

Chief Executive Officers and Company Secretaries of public companies.

“The objectives of issuers forums among others are to: Maintain regular contact with the regulator and policy makers: Advise the regulator and policy makers on regulations affecting companies/issuers and conduct research, organize conferences, roundtable discussions and other events for the benefit of members”, the SEC stated.

Also, the forum is to promote sound corporate governance and

ethical conduct among members: promote healthycompetitiveness among members and maintain an enabling business environment by monitoring issues of direct relevance to members.

According to the SEC, the need for a forum for issuers has become apparent in order to enable issuers monitor and respond to developments in financial regulation and/or government policies.

“The forum will also serve as a medium of regular engagement between SEC and issuers of

securities in order to address challenges, improve the business environment and enhance contribution of the capital market to the growth of the Nigerian economy.

“It is expected that with the establishment of SIF, SEC will be better positioned to engage issuers on capital raising opportunities to facilitate increased participation in the capital market, development of new products to meet funding needs and addressing issues relating to compliance with regulatory requirements. In all,

SIF has the potential to shorten the distance between SEC and issuers of securities”, the SEC stated.

The establishment of SIF has the potential for far-reaching direct and indirect impact on other stakeholders by provision of a wider range of investment opportunities and portfolios for investors, improved access to capital to fund expansion projects and new ventures, deepening and broadening the capital market and increasing its contribution to the nation’s development.

PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

Page 20

BU$IN€SS

LG introduces Energy Saving Dual Inverter Technology

By Etuka Sunday

W

hen upgrading technology in the living space, every homeowner looks for a powerful air conditioner. The tradeoff often comes in the form of high-power consumption, and as people spend more time indoors to take respite from the heat – bills can soon add up.

Aimed at tackling this dilemma as well as addressing demand for more durable and reliable air solutions, LG Electronics created its advanced range of DUALCOOL air conditioners. At the core of LG DUALCOOL ACs lies the innovative Dual Inverter Compressor designed to resolve the common pain points of AC use, the compressor constantly adjusts its speed to maintain desired temperature levels.

LG Electronics (LG) has introduced its latest range of DUALCOOL ACs across Africa market– empowering residents to experience faster and more consistent cooling, while also reducing energy consumption.

Integral to making this possible is LG DUAL Inverter Compressor, a system which uses fewer moving parts to offer greater durability, as well as faster, quieter and more efficient cooling. LG DUALCOOL is the first air conditioner to utilize LG’s energy-efficient Dual Inverter Compressor™ for energy savings without sacrificing cooling performance. Verified by the world-renowned testing organization TÜV Rheinland, the Dual Inverter Compressor allows LG DUALCOOL to consume up to 70 percent less electricity while

providing up to 40 percent faster cooling than typical non-inverter RACs. “Our stylish air solution products are more efficient, perform better and are more family friendly than anything we’ve introduced before,” said Mr. Jung June Yoon, Product Manager, Air Solution, LG Electronics West Africa Operations. “LG’s advanced compressor technology also enables the DUALCOOL Air Conditioner to operate at exceptionally low noise levels, ideal for apartments. What’s more, the reliable Dual Inverter Compressor is backed up by a 10year warranty, one of the best in the industry. And LG DUALCOOL Premium Air Conditioner expertly balances form and function with its slim and clean design that blends in perfectly with any interior décor increasing installation flexibility.’’

For greater convenience and comfort, DUALCOOL air conditioners feature 4 different speed settings. When in need of lots of cool air, users can choose the highest speed setting. When simply wishing to create a relaxing environment, the lowest speed can be chosen accordingly. LG has also made it easy to monitor energy consumption – a subtle display on the DUALCOOL’s front informs the user of energy usage in real-time, while the AC is operating – always keeping homeowners in the know.

The latest DUALCOOL AC Line up also come with an inbuilt pre-filter, which acts as a first line of defense, trapping large dust particles and stopping them from re-circulating in the

air. Keeping hygiene top of mind, LG’s air conditioners within the DUALCOOL range also benefit from an Auto Cleaning function.

Performing an internal clean, automatically, the ACs are able to dry out and eliminate moisture – ensuring that both the appliance and the air remain clean.

LG brand air conditioners are the only ones in Africa that uses dual inverter technology, “which is an improvement specifically in one piece, the compressor is now called a dual inverter compressor.

Now there are two heads or two plungers that work as a team, this piece is fundamental because it is considered the heart of it”.

Mr. Jung June Yoon pointed out that the many advantages offered by this innovation include saving up to 70% more energy, cooling 40% faster, an even quieter operation and less wear that allows offering up to a decade of guarantee of the equipment and one year on parts and pieces.

LG latest DUALCOOL air conditions also feature a Dual

Protection Filter. Designed to capture dust and bacteria, instead of allowing it to circulate around the room, the filter is beneficial for allergy sufferers and families with young children. Auto Cleaning also ensures the prevention of bacteria and mold build-up, while Jet Dry technology works to place priority on dehumidification – essential for keeping the home environment feeling and smelling fresh. With not only a cooler, but also a cleaner home, users can focus on relaxing and spending quality time with friends and family, in greater peace-of-mind.

“People were sensitive to these issues and LG already covered this need, we have the Plasmaster ionizer plus technology that eliminates 99.9% bacteria. This goes beyond filters, it is an ion generating system, which are recognized worldwide as the most effective. It does have filters, but you don’t even need to be cooling or heating, you can control the air conditioning just to purify the air and the procedure takes between

30 and 60 minutes”.

Save time and money when installing your air conditioner Although the installation of a residential air conditioning equipment requires certain care and technical knowledge, LG promotes facilitating this process by allowing an easier and more efficient installation. By considerably reducing assembly times, this can lead to being able to install one or more units in less time than is usually invested in the installation of a traditional air conditioner.

Likewise, the savings in the energy bill are significant thanks to the DUAL Inverter Compressor ™ technology, which allows the compressor to provide optimal performance with less electricity consumption and cooling environments up to 40% faster. And so that there is no doubt about these advantages, it is possible to view the actual energy consumption that the unit is consuming on the unit’s panel.

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Housing: Massive affordable estates coming soon, declares FCT Perm Sec.

By Stanley Onyekwere

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he FCT Permanent Secretary, Olusade Adesola has declared that various categories of affordable housing estates will soon begin to spring up in Abuja, the nation’s capital city, following practical steps taken by the FCT Administration.

Adesola, who made this assertion, when he visited Sunrise Estate Development in Asokoro District, last Friday, reiterated the government’s commitment

to provide FCT residents and Nigerians at large, adequate affordable and decent houses they can proudly call their own.

This was contained in a statement from Tony Odey, the Press Secretary to FCT Permanent Secretary, which was made available to PeoplesDaily.

According to the statement, the Permanent Secretary noted that the FCT Land Swap Programme, which the Federal Executive Council (FEC) recently gave approval for resumption of full

implementation is among other numerous initiatives the FCT Administration has embarked upon to ensure that many low income housing estates comes onboard in the Territory.

It added that to ensure that owners of the various houses which will soon come onboard are spared from spending huge sum of money on maintenance, the Permanent Secretary urged estate developers to incorporate local contents in terms of the building materials which will be used for construction.

Adesola equally explained that under the FCT Land Swap initiative, the private sectors and Nigerian citizens of all categories will have access to land encased in the essential urban infrastructure to build their homes.

He therefore, charged the FCT Department of Development Control to be alive to its responsibility by ensuring that all estate developers in territory abide strictly on the approved development plan.

Earlier, the Executive Director

of Sunrise Estate Development Ltd, Jack Farah revealed that construction work on Phase 2 of Sunrise Estate, which is essentially mass housing will soon commence and will be completed within the next one year.

Farah, who assured FCT residents that the Phase 2 of the estate will address their housing needs, urged them to take advantage of the safe, scenic, high quality construction standards and scrupulous codes offers by the estate.

Gwagwalada: Council boss appoints village head for Geshi community

By Usman Shuaibu

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he leadership of Gwagwalada Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has appointed Mr. Abubukar Gani as the Village Head of Geshi community.

Our correspondent reports that the appointment letter of the new Village Head was signed by the Director in charge of the Administration of the council, Mr. Muhammad Musa Loko.

Speaking during a media interview, the new Village Head

of Angwan Geshi, Mr. Abubakar Gani, noted the importance of open leadership style, as he would carry everybody along in his Chiefdom.

The new Village Head therefore called on the residents to cooperate with him, for the overall development of the community.

On his part, the Madaki of Geshi Community Alhaji Abubakar Muhammed, who is the father to the Village Head, thanked the present leadership of the Area Council as well as the Aguma of Gwagwalada, Alhaji Muhammadu Magaji for appointing his son as

the royal father in the community.

The Madaki Geshi, therefore, advised the people of the community to continue to live in peace with one another for the sake of promoting togetherness, which is pertinent to ensure effective development of the community.

LG Energy Saving Dual Inverter Air Conditioner

2021 Museum Day: Danbatta harps on innovative museums for sustainable development

By Etuka Sunday

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he Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta has called for ingenious ways of collecting antiquities relevant to operations of various organizations in the country in order to preserve the relics that can bridge the knowledge gap needed for sustainable development of Nigeria.

Danbatta, who was represented by the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management (ECSM), NCC, Barr.

Adewolu Adeleke, made the call recently in Abuja when the Commission joined in the celebration of the 2021 international museum day with the theme, “the future of museums: recover and reimagine”.

While speaking on the theme, Danbatta said it appropriately captures the reason the commission

established a special museum for the telecommunications industry in the country, as it is intended to bridge the historical knowledge gap in the evolution of communication as well as meeting the need for information by future generations. ”The NCC communications museum was established in November, 2006 for documentation of historical collections on the evolution of communications in Nigeria. Communication artifacts were identified in various locations across the Country where postal and telecommunication offices were established in order to retrieve relics for exhibition”.

The Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde in a statement said, Danbatta explained further that the museum should be seen as an important resourceful centre that can stimulate critical thinking and creative ideas for expanding the frontiers of knowledge

and advancement of development in relevant sectors of the economy.

“Our museum is designed and reinvented to conserve the history of the Nigerian telecommunications industry and we see it as very important to collect, exhibit and preserve telecommunications items to enlighten and educate stakeholders on the evolution of communications with a view to nudging our minds towards critical thinking that will bring about new innovations to assist in building a better future for our industry and the nation.

“The NCC Museum plays valuable roles in supporting the Commission’s agenda by providing unique information resources to cater for historical needs of the future generations, while building capacity and stimulating innovations to assist in fashioning out a better future for the Nigerian communications industry,” Danbatta added.

Speaking further at the event, Danbatta said the NCC Museum Day is a demonstration of the Commission’s commitment to facilitating learning and collaboration with relevant Museum professional bodies, in order to conserve antiquities used to develop the industry, in the best possible manner for socioeconomic impact of the nation.”

The Museum generally plays important roles in the society by conserving the past and helping to shape the future through providing needed insight into history, while educating future generations and equipping them with the requisite information and knowledge for sustainable development.

The Director General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Prof. Abba Isa Tijani was represented at the event by the Assistant Director, Museums, Kilba Zainab Uche, who presented a brief on the ‘Role of Museum in the Digital Era’.

FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello (right) and the Director General National Automotive Design and Development Council, Mr Jelani Aliyu during the visit of the NADDC management to the FCTA, at the weekend in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Youth want involvement of traditional institutions to end insecurity

By Stanley Onyekwere

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he president Abuja Original Inhabitant Youths Empowerment Organisation (AOIYEO) Amb. Isaac David has called for more closer working relationship between the six area councils chairmen, security operatives, and traditional institutions, to tackle security challenges in

FCT communities.

David, who made this call during a security awareness and sensitization programme across the six area councils of the FCT, which commenced in Abaji area council, then proceeded to Kwali area Council, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Bwari and rounded off in AMAC respectively last month.

He noted that although the leaders of FCT area

councils have always been at the forefront of the tackling of issues relating to security situations in their councils, calling for the urgent need for them to change strategies, through the collaborative effort of all.

He also reminded the council chairmen that so many funds have gone to the security sector, because of the importance of

lives and properties in society.

He advised the chairmen to use the opportunity and advantage available to them, to work closely with the FCTA, to promote security awareness in the FCT, which in the future can be replicated in every part of the political ward and communities.

“A lot of things are being done at the ministry of FCT, which is a stone throw distance

between all the area councils office and FCT office. It will be good for the chairmen to do a lot through collaborating with the FCT. “So, that when other citizens come from their states to the FCT, they will see what you are doing in partnership with the FCT, in terms of security, so that they can replicate them in their respective states,” he stressed.

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Tokyo Olympics: Lamont Marcell Jacobs claims shock 100m gold

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taly’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs claimed a shock gold in the Olympic 100m final, after Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes was disqualified for a false start.

Jacobs, who only switched away from long jump in 2018, streaked clear to win in 9.80 seconds, 0.04 clear of American Fred Kerley.

Canada’s Andre de Grasse won a second successive Olympic bronze in third.

World champion Christian Coleman and Trayvon Bromell, the world’s fastest in 2021, were both absent from the final.

Coleman, banned for whereabouts failures after missing three drugs tests, and Bromell, eliminated in the semi-finals, were joined on the sidelines by the long-retired defending champion Usain Bolt.

Few would have picked Jacobs, who was born in Texas to an American father but moved to his mother’s Italian homeland before his first birthday, as the Jamaican great’s successor.

Jacobs only broke the 10-second barrier for the first time in May. But the European indoor 60m champion carried the momentum from his fast start all the way to the line to register a time faster than Bolt’s winning mark in Rio. He was greeted by compatriot Gianmarco Tamberi, who had won a joint high-jump gold just minutes before and wrapped him in the Italian flag and an embrace.

“I don’t know, it’s a dream, a dream, it is fantastic,” said Jacobs.

“Maybe tomorrow I can imagine what they are saying, but today it is incredible.”

Second-placed Kerley admitted Jacobs was a new name to him.

“I really didn’t know anything about him.

It was my first time racing him at the Monaco Diamond League [where Jacobs finished third in 9.99 seconds],” he said. “He did a fantastic job.”

Hughes will be left to wonder what might have been in a final stripped of its usual stars and big names.

His clear false start brought back memories of defending champion Linford Christie’s disqualification at Atlanta 1996 and denied him a shot of joining the most prestigious honour roll in athletics.

Hughes, who made the same mistake at last month’s British Championships, said it was the result of a sudden cramp in his calf.

Rojas jumping against history The 100m final was almost overshadowed by an undercard of superb field events.

Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas added Olympic gold to her world triple-jump titles, finally claiming the world record she has threatened all season.

The 25-year-old already had victory wrapped up when she approached her final attempt, with no-one able to get close to her opening-round leap of 15.41m.

Despite a sub-par step phase, she still soared out to 15.67m to beat the previous 15.50m world record set two months before her birth by Inessa Kravets of Ukraine.

“Wow. It is a fantastic night,” said Rojas.

“I knew we had that distance in my legs to get it today. I was failing a bit in the technical aspect, but the last jump was one to give everything, and it was like that.”

Portugal’s Patricia Mamona took silver with a personal best 15.01m, but Colombian defending champion Caterine Ibarguen could

Daniel Rowden missed out on a spot in the 800m final by five thousandths of a second

only finish 10th.

There was drama of a different kind in the men’s high jump.

Qatar’s double world champion Mutaz Essa Barshim and Italy’s Tamberi opted to share gold rather than take part in a jump-off.

Both had three failures as they attempted to match the Olympic record of 2.39m and, with error-free records on countback, they could have fought for sole possession of the title.

However, the friends decided to end the contest and split the title, sparking ecstatic celebrations from Tamberi who has competed with a plaster cast at the end of his run-up as a souvenir of an Achilles injury that ruled him out of Rio 2016 and almost ended his career.

Great Britain semi-final disappointment Daniel Rowden missed out on a spot in the 800m final by five thousandths of a second Sisters Tiffany Porter and Cindy Sember were unable to make Tuesday’s 100m hurdles final for Great Britain.

Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the field as she qualified in a new Olympic record of 12.26, just 0.06secs outside the world record of American rival Kendra Harrison, who also progressed.

Neither Daniel Rowden or Elliot Giles could make Wednesday’s 800m final, with Rowden missing out on a fastest loser spot by just five thousandths of a second after getting boxed in around the final bend. Source: BBC

Changes in Chinese countryside in the eyes of auto repair shop owner in Xinjiang

By Li Yanan, People’s Daily

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umanbay Yoldash, a 41-year-old owner of an auto repair shop in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, was changing tires for a freight truck while humming a tune to himself on the afternoon of a sunny day. The service was provided for the fourth client he received that day.

There was a time when Yoldash’s shop was the only auto repair shop in Ulugqat township, Wuqia county, Kizilsu Kirghiz autonomous prefecture, Xinjiang. Over these years, Yoldash has experienced personally the changes in his hometown, and seen how the lives of the local people have changed.

In the past, horse and camel were the main means of transport for herdsmen, and most of the local roads were gravel roads full of bumps and hollows. Today, more and more families have private cars, and expressway network has extended to Ulugqat township.

Local herdsmen have seen their income increase continuously and moved into spacious and bright new houses built under the country’s construction projects launched to provide better and affordable housing for rural and urban residents, leading better life with each passing day.

Yoldash’s family has raised livestock for a living for generations. Horse and camel were their main means of transport every time they move to a new pasturing area in the past.

“We drove sheep and cattle forward on

the back of horse or camel. The distance between our two pasturing areas is more than 60 kilometers. We could only drink unboiled water and eat Nang (a kind of crusty pancake) during the journey,” recalled Yoldash, who added that they often had to spend the night in the field when there was a rain or other unexpected circumstances.

According to Yoldash, at that time, when they needed to go to Wuqia county to seek medical services or deal with urgent affairs, the only choice they had besides riding a horse was to wait for a ride on a freight truck.

“I remember that once when my grandfather was ill, he was not able to ride a horse. He waited for four or five days, but still couldn’t hitch a ride in a truck. In the end he got on the back of a truck fully loaded with ore. When my grandfather finally arrived at the county after four or five hours, he was covered with dust,” Yoldash told People’s Daily.

Life of local herdsmen began to change around the year 2010. “At first some people got motorcycles, then more and more people bought pickup trucks and private cars,” said Yoldash, who observed business opportunities from these changes: once people have cars, there will be demand for car repair services.

Based on the car repair skills he learnt when he was a migrant worker before, Yoldash then opened an auto repair shop near the office building of the government of Ulugqat township.

At the beginning, most of the people

who came to the shop were for tire repair services, according to Yoldash, who explained that the bumpy gravel roads back then made tires worn easily.

Nevertheless, as there were not a lot of cars in Ulugqat township, Yoldash could only earn about 2,000 yuan ($309.8) a month at most. Because the road in front of his shop was an unsurfaced road, his jack often got stuck in the mud after rain.

Greater changes in the locality began around 2015 when expressways extended to Ulugqat township, and the bumpy gravel road in front of Yoldash’s shop was replaced by a flat asphalt road.

Since the auto repair shop was located on the only way from Wuqia county to Irkeshtam port, a border land port in west China, business in the shop has picked up as the number of commercial vehicles passing the road has risen gradually.

“Now I can make more than 5,000 yuan by running the auto repair shop alone. My business gets even better in July and August when there are more tourist cars here,” said Yoldash.

“I have entrusted my livestock to other people. Besides running the auto repair shop, I’ve also started a decoration business. Now I can make more than 100,000 yuan a year from running these businesses. My two children are both in school and our life is becoming better and better,” said Yoldash, who got a new car just a few years ago.

“My daughter is in a boarding junior high school in Wuqia county. I often drive to see her. It’s only a one-hour car ride,”

PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

Yoldash added.

Yoldash’s family is not the only one that has enjoyed great changes over these years. In fact, all the herdsmen in Ulugqat township have embraced major changes.

By improving breeds of their livestock, local herdsmen have achieved constant increase in their income. In recent years, they have been relocated to places with better living conditions and moved into spacious and bright houses, thanks to major construction projects launched by the government.

In addition, getting tired of moving from one pasturing area to anther as nomads, herdsmen have established “pasturage alliances” to take turns to herd livestock, so that the unoccupied people can increase their income through ways including working in the cities.

In the past, the locality was deeply impoverished and local herdsmen could barely make ends meet. Today, all the prefecture-level areas in Xinjiang have been covered by expressway network, all the county-level cities in the region are connected by secondary roads, and all the townships and administrative villages with the right conditions are accessible by hardened roads.

“All these changes couldn’t have taken place without the good policies of our country. My auto repair shop, for instance, would never enjoy such great business had it not been for the improved roads in our hometown,” Yoldash said joyfully, who is surprised by the rapid changes in life.

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Tokyo Olympics: Akani Simbine finishes fourth in the 100m as Ghana secure boxing medal on day nine B oxer Samuel Takyi has guaranteed himself at least a bronze medal to secure Ghana’s first Olympic medal since the men’s football team won bronze at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.

South Africa’s Akani Simbine misses out on a medal as he finishes fourth in the men’s 100m final with Nigeria’s Enoch Adegoke pulling up before the finish line with an injury.

Another Nigerian, Tobi Asuman, reached the final of the women’s 100m while Kenyan duo Ferguson Rotich and Emmanuel Korir will be in the race for a medal in the men’s 800m.

South Arica’s Wayde van Niekerk qualified for Monday’s semi-finals of the men’s 400m as he bids to retain his Olympic title.

Five African athletes will be in Wednesday’s final of the women’s 3,000, steeplechase as Nigeria’s Ese Brume qualifies for the women’s long jump final.

Egypt won a fourth match at the Games to finish second in Group B of the men’s handball tournament and will play Germany in Tuesday’s quarter-finals.

Ghana’s Samuel Takyi won his featherweight quarter-final 3-2 on points over Colombia’s Ceiber David Segura to guarantee himself at least a bronze medal in Tokyo.

The 20-year-old will now face the USA’s Duke Ragan on Tuesday in the semi-finals, with the winner going on to fight for the gold medal and the loser settling for a bronze.

Three of Ghana’s four Olympic medals have come in boxing with Clement Quartey winning a silver in 1960, Eddie Blay and Prince Amartey claimed bronzes at the 1964 and 1972 Games respectively.

Takyi’s medal will be the only one for Africa in men’s boxing in Tokyo.

The only other African boxer with a chance of a medal is Algeria’s Imane Khalif in the women’s lightweight division.

She faces Ireland’s Kellie Harrington in Tuesday’s quarter-finals with the winner guaranteed at least a bronze.

Athletics afternoon session Nigeria’s Enoch Adegoke (centre) lunges for the line in his semi-final of the men’s 100m at the Tokyo Olympics South Africa’s Akani Simbine ran 9.93 seconds as he finished fourth in the men’s 100m final, which was won by Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs in 9.80s.

The USA’s Fred Kerley claimed silver with Canada’s Andre de Grasse winning the bronze, as he did at the 2016 Games in Rio. Nigeria’s Enoch Adegoke pulled up after 50 metres with an injury and did not record a time.

It means that Namibia’s Frankie Fredericks remains the only African to have won an Olympic 100m medal, when he claimed silver at the 1992 Barcelona games and again four years later in Atlanta.

Earlier on Saturday Adegoke had qualified automatically for the final as he was given second place in the second semifinal after a photo finish separated him from the USA’s Trayvon Bromell, with both men given a time of 10.00 seconds.

However also in the second semi-final South Africa’s Shaun Maswanganyi finished sixth as he failed to progress to the final.

South Africa’s Simbine had progressed but only as one of two fastest losers as he

finished fourth in the third semi-final in a time of 9.90 seconds.

Ivory Coast’s Atrthur Cisse could only finish seventh in the third semi-final and failed to reach the final.

Kenya’s Ferdinand Omwurwa Omanyala missed out on the final despite breaking his own national record again, which he set in Saturday’s heats, with a time of 10.00 seconds as he finished third in the first semi-final.

The time for the 25-year-old, who had battled to be included in the Kenyan team for the games, was not enough for him to progress as a fastest loser.

Also in the first semi-final Nigeria’s Usheoritse ‘Dushos’ Itsekiri pulled up with a hamstring injury a few metres from the finish line, with South Africa’s Gift Leotlela doing the same as he crossed the line.

Nigeria’s commonwealth champion Tobi Asuman won the first semi-final of the women’s 100m hurdles to qualify for Monday’s final, with the fourth fastest time.

Liberia’s Ebony Morrison set a new national record of 12.74 seconds in the third semi-final but could only finish sixth in her heat and will not progress to the final.

Botswana’s Nijel Amos (right) and USA’s Isaiah Jewett sit on the track after falling during the semi-finals of the men’s Olympic 800m at the Tokyo Games There was drama in the third semi-final of the men’s 800m when Botswana’s 2012 silver medallist Nijel Amos inadvertently clipped the USA’s Isaiah Jewett as both fell to the track on the final bend.

Kenya’s Ferguson Rotich avoided the collision to win the race and qualify for Thursday’s final, while Morocco’s Oussama Nabil was fourth and did not progress.

In the first semi-final Rotich’s compatriot Emmanuel Korir managed to dip over the line to clinch second place and so claim an automatic place in the final.

Earlier on Sunday Korir had been disqualified from the men’s 400m heats for a false start.

A new national record for Tunisia’s Abdessalem Ayouni was not enough for him to advance as he finished sixth in the heat with Morocco’s Abdelati El Guesse last.

Kenyan Michael Saruni failed to advance as he was sixth in the second semifinal, which was won by Australia’s Sudanborn Peter Bol. After his fall Amos said: “I still can’t put my head around it. I am crazy about it, but that is 800. These things happen.

“I got a clip on the leg and it is always (about) the timing, but it just sucks it happened this time around. I thought I was in a good position to take this heat and I can’t put words on it.”

Both South Africa’s Sokwakhana Zazini and Algeria’s Abdelmalik Lahoulou failed to progress to the final of the men’s 400m hurdles after finishing sixth and fifth respectively in their semi-finals.

Athletics morning session South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk made it through to Monday’s semi-finals of the men’s 400m as he began his quest to retain the Olympic title that he won in a world record time at Rio 2016.

He is joined in the semi-finals by Botswana duo Isaac Makwala and Leungo Scotch.

Kenya’s world record holder for the

South Africa’s Akani Simbine (right) finishing fourth in the men’s 100m Olympic final behind winner Lamont Macrcell Jacobs of Italy

Ghanaian boxer Samuel Takyi wins his nation’s first Olympic medal since 1992. celebrates his quarter-final win at the Tokyo Olympics women’s 3,000m steeplechase, Beatrice Chepkoech, qualified from the heats for Wednesday’s final along with compatriot Hyvin Kiyeng, who won silver at the Rio Olympics.

They will be joined in the final by Ethiopians Zerfe Wondemagegn and Mekides Abebe as well as Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai.

Nigerian Ese Brume’s leap of 6.76m with her last attempt saw her achieve the automatic qualifying distance of 6.75m to reach Tuesday’s final of the women’s long jump.

Handball Egypt’s men won their fourth match in Tokyo as they finished second in Group B after a 30-20 victory over Bahrain.

The Egyptian’s only loss in the group phase came at the hands of world champions Denmark 32-27.

Egypt will now face Germany, who finished third in Group A, in Tuesday’s quarter-finals.

The Egyptian captain Ahmed Elahmar admitted facing Germany will be a tough task.

“If you want to go for a medal, you are going to face the toughest opponents,” he said.

“This will be my last Olympics (he is 37) so I am looking forward to ending on a high.”

Golf South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent ended the men’s event among the competitors tied for 16th after Sunday’s final round .

They ended on 11 under par, seven shots behind the USA’s gold medallist Xander Schauffele .

Another South African, Garrick Higgo finished on even par to end in a tie for 53rd out of the 60 golfers who took part in Tokyo.

Volleyball Tunisia’s men ended their Pool B campaign with a fifth defeat as they lost 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-16) to the Russian Olympic Committee team.

It means Tunisia finish bottom of Group B and will not progress to the quarter-finals.

Water Polo South Africa women’s Group A campaign came to an end with a fourth straight loss in Tokyo as Australia emerged 14-1 winners. It leaves the South Africans bottom of the group without a single point and a goal difference of -90.

Source: BBC

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China’s thriving foreign trade drives upgrading in ports

By Luo Shanshan, Li Zong, Xiao Jiaxin, People’s Daily

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orts in China are witnessing increasing cargo throughput, broadening sea routes, and constantly improving the quality of foreign trade.

In the first half of this year, the cargo throughput of ports in China rose 9.2 percent year on year to nearly 2.36 billion tons, while their container throughput grew by 15 percent from the same period last year to about 138 million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units).

By rolling out a series of measures to reduce costs and enhance efficiency, ports and customs in many Chinese cities have put shipping resources to better use and increased efficiency in foreign trade, providing support for continuous and steady growth in foreign trade.

Qingdao Qianwan Container Terminal Co., Ltd. (QQCT) based in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong province, launched a total of 15 new shipping routes during the first six months of this year, among which ten connect the city with countries and regions participating in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Zhang Jun, deputy general manager of QQCT told People’s Daily.

This year, there has been a significant increase in the growth rate of the container throughput of Chinese ports, while the demand for container shipping services has been rising in the majority of ports, suggested the Outlook of Container Throughput at Global Top 20 Ports in 2021 report recently released by the

Center for Forecasting Science under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

According to a model-based prediction from the Center for Forecasting Science, nine of the top 20 container ports in the world will be from China, and the development of China’s container transport plays a major role in boosting and underpinning the overall stable development of the world.

On July 14, 130 containers containing home appliances including refrigerators and ovens were loaded onto a ship at a wharf in Shunde district, Foshan city, south China’s Guangdong province.

After customs clearance through an innovative customs clearance mode, these goods were transported to Nansha port in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, by inland river barge, and then, without going through customs procedures again at the Nansha port, carried to their destination country by an international container vessel.

The new customs clearance mode allows exports and imports to finish all customs clearance procedures at nearby inland river ports on Zhujiang River in Guangzhou and be directly transferred to seagoing vessels when they arrive at Nansha port, according to Liang Zhangcheng, an official of the customs at Nansha port.

The customs clearance mode enables imports and exports to be directly transferred at Nansha port and pass the port quickly 24/7 all year round without having to wait for a schedule at wharves, Liang said.

In order to simplify the procedures and shorten the time for customs clearance, some cities are actively optimizing the business

Photo taken on Jan. 6, 2021, shows tower cranes loading and unloading huge cargo vessels at an international container terminal of Yantian Port in Shenzhen city, south China’s Guangdong province.

(Photo by Yu Xiangquan/People’s Daily Online) environment of ports by exploring smart port construction.

In Qinzhou Port area of the Beibu Gulf Port in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, customs and port authority jointly launched a smart control system that helped realize information visualization at the container handling area. In addition, they have also promoted the implementation of reform measures including automatic entry of tally data to make it easier to transmit shipping bills.

The overall customs clearance time of imports at Qinzhou Port was 16.88 hours on average between January and June this year, 19.91 percent less than that of last year, according to Wang Xilong, chief of customs at Qinzhou Port.

At present, both the throughout and the fleet size of ports in

China rank among the top in the world, making the country an influential major country in water transportation. The development of ports is crucial for giving play to the important role of sea transportation in foreign trade and stabilizing international logistics and supplychain systems.

According to the National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Planning Outline jointly issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council in February 2021, China will promote the construction of a number of international hub ports and national hub ports.

“In the future, we will earnestly put into practice arrangements and requirements set out in key guidelines including the Outline for

Building a Transport-strong Nation and the National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Planning Outline so as to facilitate high-quality development of water transportation,” said Yi Jiyong, an official from the Water Transport Bureau under the Ministry of Transport.

Efforts will be made to speed up the construction of modern sea transport fleet, improve global sea transport service network, build up capacity for the transportation of key products, and enhance the resilience of container transportation, Yi said.

The country is also going to improve the comprehensive service capacity of ports, extend the industrial chain of port logistics, and promote integrated development of ports, industries, and cities, according to Yi.

The “leadership” the US plans to renew hurts the world

By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

D

ifferent from its predecessor that frequently withdrew the US from international organizations and treaties, the new administration in the White House has been declaring “America is back” since it was established, vowing to “renew American leadership.”

However, Washington’s hegemonic and arbitrary attitude on the origin tracing of COVID-19, which is still rampant around the world, is disappointing more and more countries, and presenting a clearer image of the so-called “leadership” that the US is trying to renew.

To duck responsibilities for the failure of pandemic control, and divert people’s dissatisfaction with the government’s poor performance on solving interparty conflicts, narrowing social divide and driving economic recovery, the current administration in the White House just returned to the old path of hegemony pursued by its predecessor.

To discredit and oppress China, the US is forming cliques and playing the blame game.

It shows no respect to science

and runs counter to justice.

Facts prove that the so-called “leadership” Washington aims to renew is just huge damage to the global anti-pandemic efforts.

The US is the biggest force driving politicization of origin tracing. It has done everything in an attempt to achieve its secret political goals. Over the past year, the coronavirus mutated frequently as it swept around the world, which has triggered an increasingly stronger demand for joint efforts to cope with the pandemic. However, considering itself as the world’s strongest science power and often stressing the importance of investigation, the US has always ignored science and facts. It called its allies to pressure the WHO on origin tracing of COVID-19, made its intelligent departments to find the origins of the virus, and repeatedly speculated the socalled “lab leak theory,” blatantly spreading political virus on WHO and other international platforms.

The above dangerous practices of the US have triggered doubts and criticism. Nature magazine said that hostile demands for an investigation into the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) will backfire, because they often sound like allegations. Mexican

epidemiologist Gerardo Perez also noted that the US now again raises the issue of origin tracing mainly out of self-interests. However, generating a search for guilty right now is truly idle, he added.

The wrongful remarks and practices of Washington on origin tracing reveal its zerosum and confrontation mentality in dealing with international affairs. As it is known to all, the last US administration advocated “America first” and withdrew the country from multiple international organizations and treaties, and constantly bullied other countries with its hegemony, which triggered wide opposition from the international society.

To rebuild its image, the current administration is acting like it’s sorry for the past and spouting multilateralism and international responsibility. However, everyone can still see that the foreign policy of the current US administration is just old wine in a new bottle, no matter how hard American politicians are trying to sell it.

To protect American hegemony, the current administration in the White House is also trampling on international rules and destroying international cooperation.

The French newspaper Les Echos said the priorities of

Washington are not very different from what they were when Donald Trump was in office. Melvyn Krauss, emeritus professor of economics at New York University pointed out that the foreign policy outlined by the incumbent US President was not all that different from his rococo predecessor’s “America First” credo, and the current administration has been following a form of “America first” policy even in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Compared with the last US administration, the current one obviously has spent more energy on forming cliques. It is more “skilled” and adept at practicing unilateralism under the banner of multilateralism, following the principle of “America first” in a more deceptive disguise.

Many US politicians believe that such fake multilateralism could deceive the world and renew the “leadership” of the US. How ridiculous they are!

Amid the global challenge of COVID-19, the real leadership is embodied only by the concrete efforts to promote solidarity and cooperation, rather than blame game. It lies in the respect to science and facts, not political manipulation.

In the race between mankind

and COVID-19, Washington has ignored people’s lives and health, prioritized its international influence, and oppressed other countries. Such wrongful practices would only fail the US on its way to renew the so-called “leadership” and trigger more opposition.

Joseph Sullivan, senior advisor at the Lindsey Group said in an article he published on Foreign Policy that the White House is still continuing to pursue US interests in a way that hurts the rest of the world.

Major countries must take their responsibilities when the world is in urgent need of solidarity and cooperation to tide over difficulties. The US, addicted to confrontation games, has become the largest stumbling block for global solidarity and cooperation. In the 21st century, any country that holds onto Cold War mentality, employs outdated Cold War approaches, or forms cliques to oppress other countries would only be abandoned by the times, and there is no chance for it to renew the so-called “leadership.”

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy and international affairs.)

PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

Education Maryam Abeeb

T

he President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has assured commitment to implement and enforce multiple programs on inclusive education – Girl-Child Education, Special Needs Education, Adult and Mass literacy and Alternate School Programmes with priority accorded to retention and completion rates in primary and secondary schools.

President Buhari who gave this assurance at a Global Education Summit in London, United Kingdom stated that the government is set towards revatalizing the teaching profession in Nigeria by introducing incentives to attract and retain the best brains in the profession.

He reiterated that Government of Nigeria is committed to ensure that total education spending increases by 50% over the next two years and up to 100% within the next five years

25

President Buhari to Implement Multiple Program on Girl Child Education (2021 – 2025).

He stated, “We also undertake to work with, and ensure that every State in our Federation progresses towards or maintains spending levels above 20% of their total budget to achieve national minimum standards for education outcomes.

“We are considering legislation to increase education tax from the current 2% to 3%, to cater for tertiary education; and to also increase the allocation from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) to support basic and secondary education

from 2% to 4%.

“We shall also expand and deepen our collaboration with development partners such as GPE, UK FCDO, USAID, the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF and the European Union as well as the organised private sector to mobilize additional resources for sustainable funding of education in our country.

“To implement and enforce multiple programs on inclusive education – GirlChild Education, Special Needs Education, Adult and Mass literacy and Alternate School

Programmes with priority accorded to retention and completion rates in primary and secondary schools.

“Revitalizing the teaching profession in Nigeria by introducing incentives to attract and retain the best brains in the profession.

“By harnessing all these policies and financial resources, and with the support of GPE and other partners, we are confident that we shall bequeath a more functional, equitable and globally competitive education system to the present and future generations of Nigerian children.

UNESCO, IAEA donate equipment to ABU Zaria Maryam Abeeb

T

he International Centre for Higher Education Innovation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO – ICHEI) has donated digital devices to Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria.

This is to strengthen research and digital educational infrastructure of the university, it said.

A statement issued by Malam Auwalu Umar, the Director, Public Affairs Directorate of ABU in Zaria, said the donation was under the framework of UNESCO – ICHEI academic partnership.

According to Umar, a letter of explanation by Director, UNESCO – ICHEI, Prof. LI Ming, regarding the donation to the institution, said the devices were delivered to the institution as “token of appreciation”.

He said the 21 different digital devices included one smart watch (Huawei Watch Fit), two smart bracelets (Xiaomi Smart Band 5) and eight wireless presenter (Deli 2801).

“Others are eight Bluetooth keyboard (B.O.W. HB 066) and two wireless headphones (Oppo Enco W31).

“Since the start of the partnership in 2019, according to Ming, ABU and UNESCO – ICHEI had fruitful collaborations in the areas of teacher-ICT capacity building, digital educational infrastructure and academic exchanges,’’ he said.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof.

Kabiru Bala, who received the devices from Prof. Mohammed Mu’azu of Department of Computer Engineering, expressed the institution’s profound gratitude and appreciation to the centre for the “generous donation”.

The vice-chancellor explained that the devices came at a right time and that they would “indeed make a huge difference in the advancement of teaching and learning” in ABU. In a related development, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has donated 40 assorted laboratory equipment and other consumables worth 73,148 Euros to the university.

According to Umar, the

donated laboratory equipment and the consumables are to be used at IAEA’s Africa Centre of Excellence for Neglected Tropical Diseases and Forensic Biotechnology (ACENTDFB).

He added that the equipment

and other consumables, which were delivered to the university through the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC), were mainly for COVID-19 analysis.

Umar said the donated items include Bioharzard Safety

Cabinet Airstream Class BS III (BIOBASE), Bioharzard Safety Cabinet Airstream Class BS II( BIOBASE); Thermocyler, Real Time PCR including software; and Micro-Centrifuge including rotor, for sample extraction, among

others.

The vice-chancellor expressed immense gratitude to the IAEA for the “wonderful” donation and Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC) for facilitating the gesture.

NBTE, CISCO train 118 staff on cyber security Maryam Abeeb

T

he National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has trained 118 staff on cyber security to develop the capacity of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.

The Executive Secretary, Prof. Idris Bugaje, said this at the virtual graduation of the trainees in Kaduna.

He said that the effort would

significantly transform the TVET sector.

Bugaje said that 118 participants from 45 TVET institutions and 22 from the NBTE were trained in collaboration with CISCO and University of Jos, Plateau, as train-the-trainers.

He said that the participants were trained on information technology essential, cyber security essential and cyber security operations.

He commended CISCO for

assisting the NBTE in its efforts to transform the TVET sector, particularly on information and communication technology as well as cyber security.

“I am impressed that CISCO Networking Academy has provided impactful support in the country’s education and socio-economic sectors.

“It is doing so in partnership with government, industry partners, educational institutions and Non-Governmental

Organisations across the country.

This is quite commendable,” Bugaje said.

The NBTE boss encouraged TVET institutions to liaise with CISCO to become certified academy centres for further trainthe-trainer workshops within their geo-political zones.

He said that arrangements with CISCO were in top gear toward making NBTE a CISCO Academy Support Centre for capacity development and certification.

The president help line foundation for the needy Abuja, Dr Jumai Ahmadu (right front row sitting) the Chief Executive officer Afrodition Consult, Mr. Ahmed Balogun (left front row sitting) with the participants and other stakeholders, during a conference on the effect of Ethnic and religious bias on mental health in Nigeria, held recently in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-owo

FG to promote Secondary Education standard- NSSEC boss

Maryam Abeeb

T

he Executive Secretary, National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC) Dr. Benjamin Abakpa has disclosed that the Federal Government is set to promote the standard of senior secondary education to compete with global standard.

Abakpa, made this disclosure during a courtesy visit by the youthhub Africa in Abuja.

The Executive Secretary stated that the Senior Secondary Education has been in existence without a supervisory Commission and it has affected the education effectiveness to meet the needs of the society.

He added that the creation of Senior Secondary Education

Commission (NSSEC) is to reposition a new Senior Secondary Education that will meet the societal need and compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world.

To achieve the objective he stated that is posed to develop education policy for Senior Secondary, that will be implemented in the country.

He further called on Development Partners to collaborate

with the Commission to restore the good image of the Senior Secondary Education in the nation.

Speaking earlier the leader of the delegation of YouthhubAfrica, Mr Rotimi Olawale said the Organization is set to partner with the Commission in the area of sustaining advocacy in ensuring young people value education and improve reading culture.

PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

26

Feature

PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

CLASSIFIED

The perfect storm striking World of Warcraft

T

here’s trouble in the World of Warcraft.

Not from a rampaging dragon or a demon army attacking the land of Azeroth, but from some unhappy players who, after 17 years, have had enough.

On YouTube, Reddit and Twitter, there are stories about people leaving the game.

Some cite long delays for new content in a game that charges a monthly fee; others are annoyed at a lack of communication.

Players have been flocking to competing games in larger numbers than ever - led by a wave of famous streamers and content creators jumping ship.

Then, the allegations of widespread sexual harassment and discrimination at Activision Blizzard came.

As Scott Johnson, host of popular MMO podcast The Instance, put it: “You have the perfect storm for a lot of players to hang up their Azeroth gear for good and stake out for a new place to play.”

‘Drastic’ dip Activision Blizzard has not released official player counts for World of Warcraft (WoW) for years. But it does tell investors how many “monthly active users” all of its games have every quarter.

Those figures show that its games lost two million players in three months.

New numbers on how many active players it has across its portfolio of games are due out soon, when the firm announces its latest quarterly results.

WoW is still making plenty of money revenue is up - so it’s possible those numbers mean some of its other games are suffering rather than WoW. “It’s impossible to see the real exodus stats,” Scott admitted. “But based on things I have heard inside and outside the company, this might be the most drastic dip they’ve yet experienced.”

He doesn’t believe the dissatisfaction is down to any one thing - but that after so many years, players are used to every twist on the core gameplay.

“You are still iterating on the same basic systems and I think players are hitting a point of ‘been there, done that’ that might be more widespread than in years past,” he said.

And then there’s the competition offering “similar yet new experiences”.

‘Insane’ growth

Final Fantasy XIV is arguably WoW’s most like-for-like competitor. At launch in 2010, it was famously so bad that the developers “destroyed the world” to rebuild the game from square one - a rags-to-riches redemption story that has since attracted millions of players.

But all of a sudden, it’s seen player numbers surge during what should be a quiet time for the game - its next big expansion is not due for months.

Zepla, an FFXIV YouTube creator and streamer, said “the last few weeks have been insane.”

“We usually get a lot of new players when an expansion comes, but this surpasses even that,” she said.

The game is so popular that it temporarily stopped selling new copies.

Director Naoki Yoshida issued a heartfelt apology for server issues caused by the “staggering and unexpected” influx of new players.

FFXIV applies a different style to things - but is still recognisable It’s not the only MMO suffering from sudden success.

New World, Amazon’s first attempt in the field, hasn’t even launched yet. But its beta test period saw it overwhelmed with server issues as it hit nearly 200,000 players joining the game at once.

Zepla was herself once a WoW player - but left years ago for FFXIV during its poorlyreceived Warlords of Draenor expansion. She thinks many players have been frustrated for years.

“Common complaints have included frustration with poor class balance, ‘out of touch’ developers, and needlessly complex, RNG-heavy game systems. Put simply, many players haven’t felt listened to. They’ve not felt their time has been respected. And they are tired.”

Popular streamers have fuelled some of this interest. Well-known WoW player Asmongold has been credited with driving many players to both FFXIV and New World in recent weeks.

“So the WoW community had already heard good things about FFXIV,” Zepla said, “and now in light of recent events, they may be searching for a new MMO in earnest.”

And then, amid all this, came the sexual harassment scandal that hit the community

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Plotlines involving once-favourite Sylvanas Windrunner have not gone down well with fans of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter hard.

Some players are debating a boycott, Virtual picket lines Scott Johnson has been making WoW drawing virtual “picket lines” to not enter content online since 2004. He says he chaired Blizzard’s games.

Zepla, for her part, thinks a boycott is a panel at Blizzard’s annual fan festival in 2018 with one of the people named in the justified - but “I don’t believe it’s the only way”.

Some content creators “have chosen to stay allegations - something he now sees in a new light. As someone who plays an active role in in the community as they feel they can use their the community, he says he personally knows platforms to amplify the voices of those who are speaking out against injustice,” she explains. some of the women who were victims.

“Demanding accountability from within is “Speaking for me, I’ve never felt this level of anger and disappointment in my professional another way to make a positive difference here.”

These are practical decisions, too - changing career as I did in the wake of these allegations,” games as a creator can be a risky move, with no he said.

Morale among the the community is “the guarantee your audience will follow.

Like family lowest it’s ever been. Full stop. Blizzard has had So is it the end of the world (of Warcraft)? its stumbles over the years, but nothing like “I’d bet that the game’s best years are well this.”

On Twitter, he posted one of his illustrations behind it,” Scott says - but he doubts it will - a shattered Hearthstone, the tool WoW vanish.

“While some players will be taking massive players use to return home. It’s been retweeted breaks, or leaving for good, there are others a thousand times.

The BBC is not responsible for the content whose But he doesn’t think it’s the end for Azeroth. of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter “It will bleed, be injured, and maybe forever He’s not alone in taking a break, at least scarred, but I think it will likely live on one way from Azeroth.

Prolific WoW YouTuber MadSeason this or the other.”

When WoW eventually does disappear week declared he was quitting the game - in a video made before the California legal case was and its servers are switched off - perhaps many years from now - the impact it had on the made public.

Influential UK streamer Preach is also industry will live on.

Amid all these troubles, a video from FFXIV among those to announce he would no longer cover WoW, describing the sexual harassment director Yoshi-P has been widely shared.

“Without World of Warcraft, [FFXIV] allegations as “the straw that broke the camel’s would not exist,” he said in the video translated back”.

After so many years, the time has come to by a fan. “WoW was the game we constantly looked up to. say goodbye to World of Warcraft.

“Saying we won or lost to WoW is off-base You can also find a video discussing my decisions on our Highlights Channelhttps://t. to start with, because they were the game we aspired to be.” co/i5DTiVKdh4https://t.co/4xw38j6TtH Source: BBC The BBC is not responsible for the content

It’s not the only MMO suffering from sudden success.

New World, Amazon’s first attempt in the field, hasn’t even launched yet. But its beta test period saw it overwhelmed with server issues as it hit nearly 200,000 players joining the game at once.

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THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1. OHAI NDUBUISI DANIEL - Chairman 2. OHAI AMAKA VIVIAN - Secretary THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : 1. TO BUILD THE MINDS OF YOUNG PERSONS AND SENSITIZE THEM FOR A BETTER SOCIETY 2. TO PROMOTE SELF-RELIANCE EFFORTS OF THE LESS PRIVILEGED 3. TO ASSIST AND HELP, ESPECIALLY WITH THE RIGHTS OF UNDERPRIVILEGED CHILDREN, YOUNG ADULTS, FAMILIES. 4. TO IDENTIFY SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS AROUND US AND BRING IN EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS THAT WOULD HELP THE LESS PRIVILEGED 5. TO ENHANCE THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUTH EDUCATION AND ASSIST THE LESS PRIVILEGE IN THE AREA OF EDUCATION 6. TO EMPOWER AND SUPPORT THE YOUTHS AND GIRL CHILD EDUCATION ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: PAMELA EZENDU Esq. 07039205475

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THE TRUSTEES ARE : 1. AISUNUBHOYA LOVETH- General Overseer 2. JOSEPH LUCKY AISUNUBHOYA- Secretary 3. ANUGBOBA SYLVESTER OMHANS THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE : TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST ALL OVER THE WORLD. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR_GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : J. E. Obasuyi (Mrs.) Legal Practitioner 08024729418

Shehu I, formerly known as Shehu Abubakar Aliyu now wish to be known and addressed as Shehu Usman Abubakar. All former documents remain valid, General public should please take note.

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- VC IE PRESD I ENT 3. BRO. AJIBOYE OLUWATOSIN OLAWUMI - SECRETARY 4. PST. AKHARIA OVERCOMER - MEMBER

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST.

ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, P.M.B 198, ABUJA, WITHIN TWENTY EIGHT (28) DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

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I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS Paulina Williams. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS Alina Williams madaki.

ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE. Abubakar I formerly known as Yusuf Ibrahim, now wish to be known and addressed as Abubakar Sani Muhammad. all former documents remained valid, GTBank and general public to take note.

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ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

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AIMS AND OBJECTIVES PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, P.M.B 198, ABUJA, WITHIN TWENTY EIGHT (28) DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SHIMA COMFORT NBA /IND/9208

Sports

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monday, august 2, 2021

Tokyo: 3 Nigeria’s athletes qualified for final

By Albert Akota

A

total of three Nigerian track and field athletes have qualified for the finals at the ongoing 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games in Japan.

They are Enoch Adegoke, Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume.

Adegoke qualified for the final of the men’s 100m heat at the ongoing 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games in Japan yestetday.

The 21-year-old finished second (10.00s) in heat 2

of men’s 100m, just behind Zharnel Hughes, who kept the British hope alive by winning the second semi in 9.98seconds.

Amusan, meanwhile, qualified for the Women’s 100m Hurdles final She advanced to the next round of the competition on Saturday after winning Round 1 (Heat 3), running from lane four.

The 24-year-old crossed the finish line at 12.72s ahead of Jamaica’s Thompson Yanique, who timed 12.74s and Skrzyszowska Pia of Poland,

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who ran a personal best of 12.75s to place third in the heat.

Brume, on the other hand, qualified for the Long Jump final.

She finished fourth in Group B with a 6.76m jump to take the final spot.

Reigning World Indoor champion, Ivana Spanovic, was first in Group B with a jump of 7.00mm, while current world champion Malaika Mihambo was second with a 6.98m leap and British Virgin Islands’ Chantel Malone (6.82m) finished third.

Olympics: Minister stresses need for Athletes development program, fund

By Albert Akota

M

inister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare has said Nigeria urgently needs a private sector driven Athletes Development Program and a Sports Development Fund run independent of government.

Mr. Dare, who spoke in an interview on the sidelines of the Tokyo Olympics in Japan, urged support for consistently training and development of athletes.

According to him, Nigeria’s sports “need a National Athletes Development Program as well as a Sports Development Fund urgently, to be run independent of Government and driven by the private sector.

“I will be more aggressive with engaging the private sector. We need our sports infrastructure activated and equipped. We need a cluster of multi-purpose sports centers or community sports centers to attack our young ones, like Rowe Park in lagos.

“We will tinker with a new National Sports Industry

Policy by expanding the areas of athletes’ grants and training, government funding and commitment to sporting infrastructure development.

There a few fundamentals we have walked away from when it comes to sports administration.

We will seek a return by Gods grace,” the Minister declared.

On the strategy of taking only athletes with prospects to the Olympics, the Minister asserted that “Nigeria should keep the plan that brought us here. Not just medal winners but as many that meet the qualification standards in the chosen sports. Experience matters at the Olympics.

“Most of the medal winners have been to two or more Olympics. I saw how lack of experience robbed two of our young and talented athletes medals - Elizabeth in Taekwando, Uche in Gymnastics and Esther Toko in Rowing who eventually secured a good Olympic classification.

Our size this time is tight and deliberately so. Without the team sports of basketball in the male and female categories

our total Athletes to the Tokyo Olympics could have been around thirty.

“Nigeria, perhaps, has one of the youngest crops of athletes at the Olympics. Out of Team Nigeria athletes, 39 of them have never been to the Olympics. They are debutants, but diamonds in the rough.

About 20 are under 30. Young.

The building of the next generation of talented Nigerian athletes has just started. The focus should be on their effort and commitment and not just on medals,” Mr. Dare said.

He however noted that Nigerians were right to have high expectations in the country’s participation in the Games.

“One must always enter a race with high expectations.

That’s almost a rule of the thumb in life. You start a business with the expectation that you will make lots of profit.

You enter school to come out with the best honors. You compete with the expectation to win. My expectation was not too High. It was rightly so placed especially backed by

data in some sports where we have High flyers and world rated Athletes such as wresting and athletics and Table Tennis. Tobi Amusan. Blessing Okagbare. Ese Brume. Divine.

Adegoke. I can go on and on.

And the dominance of our male and female basket ball teams.

Enough tonic to get pumped up. Nigeria still has great hopes at success at this Olympics.

“As a country we want to win and we want to see our stars shine, but their value to

us is not measured by single performances or competitions.

Most of our athletes are young and debutants - experiencing Olympics for the first time.

They remain committed patriots who gave their all and I have nothing but pride for their tenacity and commitment to deliver smiles to the faces on Nigerians. We have started building a new generation of Young Nigerian athletes. There is much hope,” the Minister assured.

NPFL: Akwa United reign as Nigeria Champions

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PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

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NPFL: Akwa United reign as Nigeria Champions

By Albert Akota

N

o doubt they were going to win the 2020/21 Nigeria Professional Football League season, they only had their reign delayed but on Sunday evening, Akwa United reign as the King of the league began.

The Promise Keepers delivered the league title to the people of Akwa Ibom State yesterday evening when they defeated MFM FC of Lagos 5-1.

It was a lovely scene to behold at the near filled capacity Godswill Akpabio Stadium Uyo. The fans were first thrown into wild jubilation when Charles Atshimene opened the scoring in the 24th minute before Alimi Adebayo of MFM FC scored an own goal in the in the 3rd minute of the additional time in the first half to give the Promise Keepers a comfortable lead going into the break.

The second half resumed with Akwa all over MFM FC and their pressure yielded another goal in the 62nd minute through Mfon Udoh. MFM FC reduced the deficit from the penalty spot in 68th minute through Mbonu.

Charles Atshimene restored Akwa’s three goals lead with his second of the game in the 87th minute and Obasi scored for MFM FC in the 90+1 minutes to yet again reduced the deficit to two.

It became an embarrassing result for MFM FC when they shipped in their fifth of the evening and it was the usual suspect of the evening, Charles Atshimene who scored. It was his third of the evening that puts him level on the scorer’s chat with Nasarawa United’s Silas Nwankwo.

It was indeed a beautiful scene from the Godswill Akpabio Stadium and it was a glorious celebration for Akwa United who won their first ever domestic league title.

Meanwhile Warri Wolves gave themselves survival hope when they defeated Heartland FC by a lone goal in Uzoro.

The win lift them to 17th on the log, level on points (41) with 16th placed Sunshine Stars who have played a game less.

Kastina United defeated Abia Warriors by a lone goal as well while Plateau United were 2-0 winners over Dakkada FC. Histories were made on Sunday.

Akwa United winning their first ever league title and their coach Kennedy Boboye became the first manager to win the NPFL twice in the LMC era.

The league continues on Monday with the battle for continental places set to intensify.

Nasarawa United will tackle Enugu Rangers at the Nasarawa Township Stadium, as Enyimba and Sunshine Stars lock ons in Aba. Rivers United welcomes Lobi Stars to Port Harcourt and Kano Pillars hosts

PEOPLES DAILY, monday, august 2, 2021

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THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY INFORMED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACTS, 1990 THE TRUSTEES ARE: (1) AUDU LUCKY AGBOKHADE - CHAIRMAN (2) UDUNZE UCHE ANDERSON - SECRETARY (3) EKEH ANTHONY CHUKWUEMEKA - MEMBER (4) IREKPITA HAPPINESS ESHIKHOSTE - MEMBER (5)NZEH CHINEDU LUKE - MEMBER (6) ASHIEGBU GODSPOWER - MEMBER AIMS AND OBJECTIVES (1) TO ADOPT GLOBAL PHILANTHROPIC STANDARDS AND HUMANITARIAN SYNERGY AS INSTRUMENTS OF POVERTY ERADICATION, EDUCATION AND GENERAL EMPOWERMENT OF THE SOCIETY. (2) TO AMELIORATE HARDSHIP, POVERTY AND DISEASES INDUCED BY NATURAL AND MAN CREATED DISASTERS. ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, P.M.B 198, ABUJA, WITHIN TWENTY EIGHT (28) DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: BARR. AKOR DOMINIC FRIDAY 08068399996

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY INFORMED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACTS, 1990 THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. John Machi - General Overseer.

2. Olajeje Oluwaseun Akinwale - Secretary.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To preach the gospel of Jesus Christ..

ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, P.M.B 198, ABUJA, WITHIN TWENTY EIGHT (28) DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: Secretary

muhammad

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I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS ibrahim abubakar muhammad. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS muhammad abubakar. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

This is to inform the public of the loss of the original copy of the Conveyance of Provisional Approval dated 2/2/95 issued by the Abuja Municipal Area Council,Abuja in favour of Stephen A. Nwadozie in respect of Plot No. D 112 measuring about 2000m2 within Kubwa Abuja The owner/allotee lost the said document on 25/04/2021 while on transit from Lagos to Abuja. All relevant authorities including AMAC, Bwari Area Council and FCDA should please take note.

space for sale space for sale Wikki Tourist in Kaduna.

Finally, Kwara United visits already relegated Adamawa United as they

continue their search for a continental ticket.

It promises to be excited till the final

day and with the champion already known, no doubt the fight for survival and continent will take the centre stage.

Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje kick off the military/para military sports competition at Sani Abacha stadium Kano on Saturday

Signed: Mr.Emeka Obed Mbakwe

monday, august 2, 2021

SPORTS latest

2020 Tokyo Olympics: muscle pull ends Adegoke’s medal hope

By Albert Akota

I

t was a sad end for Team Nigeria in Atheletics as medal hopeful in men’s 100 meters final Enoch Adegoke missed the podium due to injury.

The Nigeria track star caught the attention of the entire world on Saturday as he finished top in his heat with an amazing performance.

He also qualified for the final yestetday after he came out in flying colours in the semi final and look ever ready for the final.

The final race was full of stars atheletes and Adegoke was one of the bright talent to finish on the podium .

The race began with all the athletes trying to be on top but it was never meant to be for the Nigerian man as he pulled out of the race after sustaining muscle injury.

Meanwhile, Lamont Marcell Jacobs of Italy won the men’s 100 metres gold, breaking retired Jamaican star Usain Bolt’s 13-year hold on the event.

Jacobs, timed a European record of 9.80 seconds, with American Fred Kerley taking silver in 9.84 seconds.

Canada’s Andre de Grasse, a bronze medallist at the 2016 Rio Games, repeated the feat in 9.89 Taye Taiwo and Oduamadi seconds.

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Haiti: The greatest heist in history O

n 7th July, Haitian President Jovene Moise was in his private house in the Nation’s capital of Port – au – Prince with his wife and children. Suddenly, heavily armed gun men casually walked in and gunned him down. His wife Maurine Moise was seriously wounded but survived after she was rushed to the USA where she received medical treatment.

“President Jovene had a vision,” Moïse told the New York Times in a report published last Friday, adding, “and we Haitians are not going to let that die.

“I would like people who did this to be caught, otherwise they will kill every single president who takes power,” the former first lady told the Times in her first interview since her husband’s brutal murder.

“They did it once. They will do it again,” she said.

Haiti, a country populated by almost 100 percent ex African slaves made history when the slaves revolted against their French owners in 1804 to make their country the second country in the Americas to become independent of Europe.

Since then the country has been traumatized by economic, political, social upheavals and even natural disasters.

The cruel assassination of President Jovene last month is further clear evidence of the sickening instability in this historic country. Maybe things would have been different if Haiti were given a chance by her former colonial masters, France to start on a firm ground in 1804.Unfortunately France never gave that a thought.

They could not give a thought to the notion that the slaves whom they considered as their property would ever have the courage to stand up for their humanity.

On January 1 1804 when the black ex slaves declared Haiti independent, the country was destined to a shaky start.

They had won their freedom on the battle field, and the war had devastated economic life of the

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Emmanuel Yawe royawe@yahoo.com 08024565402

country, with a harvest of civil unrest, economic uncertainties and lack of skilled planners, craftsmen and administrators.

Furthermore, European powers and their puppet countries in the Caribbean whose economies were dependent on free slave labour were suspicious of a country that emerged after a successful slave revolt. There was always the fear that the contagion would spread. The United States had an ambivalent attitude to Haiti. This was a time when slavery was popular in some states [;of the US and unpopular in others. While the states where slavery was popular were hostile to Haiti, those where it was unpopular welcomed the new country.

In 1915, the US sent the Marines who occupied Haiti and effectively took control in a bold attempt to benefit from the chaos that followed the emergence of the only black country in the western hemisphere. By then the country was split between the black population and the mulattoes, and tensions between the rural based blacks and city based mulattoes were quite high. The Marines who tended to favour the Mulattoes were not welcome by the black majority. They continued their struggle for freedom until the US government finally left in 1947.

By this time, much of the damage to Haiti had been done. Haiti was by all indices a very prosperous country in the

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1800’s – the richest colony in the western hemisphere.

The French would not standby and lose such a valued possession. In 1814, King Louis XV111 of France embarked on a strange form of diplomacy to ensure that Haiti complied with his demands for payment of compensation to France and the slave owners whose property, the slaves had enjoyed the temerity to declare themselves free and their country independent. In April 1825, the King of France issued a decree to the effect that Haiti must pay France 150 million francs as compensation for their losses. To convince the Haitian revolutionaries that he was not joking, King Charles sent Baron de Mackau on this strange diplomatic mission with a negotiating team of 14 brigs of war carrying over 500 cannons. This was clearly not a diplomatic mission but an extortion expedition. If Haiti rejected the proposal, war with France for which the newly independent country was ill prepared was going to be inevitable.

Thus on July 11, Haiti was forced to sign a document which read, “the present inhabitants of French part of St Dominique shall pay 150 million in five equal installments to indemnify the former colonists.” This was the beginning of the sustained robbery of Haiti by France.

They knew that no country in Europe had the capacity `to make such payments. In the

It is considered all over the world as the biggest heist in human history. More so when Haiti was forced to take loans from French Banks to make the first two initial payments. Subsequently, as expected, Haiti defaulted in payments.

case of Haiti it was ten times its annual budget and five times the annual budget of France itself. Certainly this extortion was absurd and wicked. It is considered all over the world as the biggest heist in human history. More so when Haiti was forced to take loans from French Banks to make the first two initial payments.

Subsequently, as expected, Haiti defaulted in payments.

Thus began the economic predicament that has plagued Haiti up till today.

With such debts hanging over its head, the Haitian government could not meet its commitments on education, health and infrastructure.

Worse still it was discovered that the interests on the payments were calculated in such a fraudulent way that Haiti ended up paying much more than it was supposed to pay. Finally by the time Haiti managed repaying the theft in 1945, the country was completely ruined, economically, politically and socially. It explains why Haiti has remained permanently unstable.

The establishment of a stable political order in this mess has always been a mirage and will remain so. Strange political figures have often emerged in Haiti with more strange political philosophies like Papa Doc and Baby Doc – the Duvalier dynasty who ruled and ruined Haiti with voodoo between 1957 and 1986. Thus it has become very difficult for Haiti without a strong revolutionary visionary ruler like Fidel Castro of Cuba to take country out of the choking grip of international capitalism.

DAN GAYE Dangai

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